Firecracker
by Saya Moonshadow
Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali
1. On My Way

**I've been working on this off and on for about eight months now, and I am SO glad it's almost finished. Damn. And it's long. Like...really long. I dunno why I didn't just binge and finish it in a decent time frame, but then again, that would require actual effort. So you're stuck with this being updated periodically with chapters that were written sometime around last December to April to now. Boo.**

**I apologize if I got any of the male emotions and age reactions and whatnot wrong, but keep in mind that I AM a girl, despite how much I hate being one at times. I DO have three brothers, however, and am basing Tahu's reactions to things on what they've told me about their own experiences. Hopefully I managed to do it right.**

**Disclaimer: Sorry, me no own. Just the circumstances and stuff. And a few characters, such as Reha. Who makes an appearance, like, twice in the whole story. Yeah.**

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali****.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. Seriously, show and tell. Show and tell was so first grade; we were second graders. Should we really have STILL been doing it? Who cares, the fact remains that we WERE doing it, and it happened.

And mine was totally awesome.

I was the kid who brought in my eccentric father's tarantula to school because I had nothing cool to bring in other than a humongous spider that my somewhat gutter-minded dad had named "Dirty Sanchez". And that I PROBABLY shouldn't have gone anywhere near in the first place, but I did anyway.

Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box.

And running for the door while the teacher tried to restore order and glare at me for disturbing the peace at the same time. "Tahu," she yelled over the screams, "I want to see you outside!"

So, taking my tarantula with me, I went to go stand out in the hallway and waited until the screams and cries for Mommy had died down and the teacher threw the door open and went to meet me. She did not look happy, not in the least bit. What could I expect? I had just ruined show and tell.

Sort of.

One mishap wasn't TOO bad, right?

Turns out it was, because she wouldn't let me go out for recess that day, and I sat there for the whole fifteen minutes grumbling to myself about stupid tarantulas and the unfairness of teachers. By that time, Sanchez was hidden under my desk where no poor, unsuspecting seven-year-old's eye could lay upon him again. He didn't seem to mind, after all, tarantulas like the dark and cool, or so my dad had told me.

But I minded. I wanted to go outside and bask in the sunlight instead of being stuck in that stuffy classroom with my teacher glaring at me the whole while like she couldn't WAIT to write a note home to my parents about my inappropriate conduct. Harrumph.

Not to mention she took my hat (that had been given to me by a very special friend and almost-mentor of mine, and that I never went anywhere without) and gave me a lecture about the rules concerning headgear in class. Since it wasn't the first time I had broken the hat rule, I'd have to get one of my parents to come to the office to retrieve it for me.

Thankfully, I was allowed out at lunchtime, and raced outside with everybody else, yelling gratefully. My lunch was the usual; roast beef sandwich, juice, and chips. Not that I minded, but sometimes I wished my mom would pack something...you know, more imaginative. Then again, she was busy taking care of my baby sister at home, so I guess she could be forgiven for packing me the same lunch every day.

I tore into my sandwich while sitting next to a boy with pale blonde hair, who was named Kopaka. Kopaka was a cold sort of boy who rarely spoke and spent most of his time flipping through astronomy books. And he was so SMART, too. He rarely got a question wrong on ANYTHING.

I guess you could say I was a little jealous of him. I was a year older, but he had all the makings of a genius already, as in, smart enough to skip a grade and be in my class when he was only six (actually, he was still five, his birthday's in December and it was only late September). And he was so sarcastic, too, it just drove me nuts. But I had known him since daycare so I was used to his attitude.

Mostly.

Kopaka had never been too fond of sweets, which his hyperactive mother packed for him pretty much every day. I had often found he was only too willing to trade his chocolate bars or gummy worms or Skittles or whatever for half of my sandwich, and that day was no exception. So eager was he to get rid of his three packets of Reese's peanut butter cups that before I could even open my lunch bag, he had torn it open, grabbed half of the sandwich inside, and shoved the candy at me. I glared at him for touching my stuff without asking, then thanked him and ate my half while he nodded and did likewise.

And that's when SHE appeared.

Blue hair, long, tied at the very bottom with a plain hair tie. Yellow eyes that sparkled in the light. Pale skin. Wearing mostly blue, of varying pale and dark shades.

To put it plainly, I'd never seen a girl like her.

I stared, slackjawed, and the stuff I had been chewing would have fallen out if Kopaka hadn't taken the liberty of shutting my mouth for me before it could. He wrinkled his nose, glanced over to where I was staring, and then started to laugh. Needless to say, I snapped out of my trance and glared at him.

"What's so funny, snowcone?"

"Nothing." He closed his eyes and smirked. "Just that I've never seen you act that way before, except over food. I never thought you'd do it over a GIRL."

(That's another thing that had always bugged me about him, his oh-so-educated speech patterns - when he could be bothered to talk, anyway. His dad is a super scientist though, and taught him to read at the ripe old age of three, so I guess it's to be expected.)

"Yeah, so--" I stopped for a moment and stared at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

I blinked. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you say...do you have a fever?"

Kopaka rolled his eyes, looking annoyed. "No, idiot."

Now THAT was more like him. Simple, one word answers with an insult thrown in at the end for good measure.

He always was an ice cube...

I spent the rest of lunch scanning the cafeteria for the girl, but didn't see her, and it was with some dejection that I returned to my classroom with Kopaka when the bell rang later.

I had no idea what had clicked in me so strongly that I had taken an interest in that girl. Girls were gross. Girls had those dreadful things known as cooties that were the downfall of any self-respecting little boy. Several times when a girl had tried to talk to me, I had reacted by yelling that she had cooties and not to come near me, to the amusement and exasperation of Kopaka (who girls seemed to flock to for some odd reason). Something told me that whatever the heck cooties really were, this girl did not possess them.

Maybe it was the kind look in her eyes as she had gone from one end of the cafeteria to the next. No other girl I knew had that look. Most were, well, airheaded and way too hyper for me. Then again, I couldn't really talk, seeing as how I had some REALLY hyper friends myself.

And I was sort of hyper. Yeah.

That afternoon when class FINALLY ended, I gathered up my books, backpack, and Sanchez, making sure to hide his box carefully so no one could even get a glimpse of what was inside, and then dashed outside to walk home. My house lay within walking distance, and since both of my parents were lazy (not really, but that was my dad's excuse), I had to walk every day instead of getting picked up like everyone else.

Kopaka fell into stride next to me, nose already in one of his own dad's books again. I'll never get this kid. Instead of playing soccer or kickball or handball or tetherball or dodgeball during recess and lunch like the rest of us, he would sit on the sidelines and either read or just sit there looking bored. You'd think he would try to alleviate the boredom by joining in, but no. That would require lowering himself to play with the common rabble. Which I, his best friend, was a part of. Not even for the sake of our friendship could he be bothered to join in the games. I'm serious. I even threatened him with it once, but he just blinked at me and told me I was lying.

Which I was, of course, I'd never forsake a friend (especially not my BEST friend) just because he didn't want to play dodgeball with me, even though he's got great aim and we would have won by a landslide if he had played.

At the carpool lane, where all the parents came to pick up their kids, Kopaka was quickly spotted and accosted by his mother, one bright and bubbly lady with bright blue eyes like his own, by the name of Aruna. I'll never understand how Kopaka was born to her. As mentioned before, she was bright and bubbly. He was, well, not. He was serious, surly, dour, and only talked when it suited him. If it was anyone else but me, the teacher, his parents, or one of our other friends talking to him, he would just nod, shake his head, shrug, glare, roll his eyes, sigh, not even give a gesture, etcetera should anything be said to him.

So the conversation went something like this:

Aruna: Oh Kopaka sweetie, it's so good to see you! *grabs him in a death hold and squeezes him*

Kopaka: *flails slightly* Hello...Mother... *coughs*

Aruna: *lets him go* Soooooooo how was school today?

Kopaka: Good.

Aruna: That's great! How are your friends?

Kopaka: Good.

Aruna: Oh, hi, Tahu, how are you today?!

Kopaka: *cuts me off before I can answer* He's good too.

Aruna: That's so nice, say hi to your mom and dad for me, won't you, Tahu?

Kopaka: *cuts me off AGAIN* He will.

Aruna: Kopaka, did you eat your lunch today?

Kopaka: Yes.

Aruna: You better have, because you're looking so skinny these days! You and your father both, you don't eat enough, you'll waste away one of these days, mark my words! Are you marking them?

Kopaka: No.

Aruna: *not paying attention* Oh you're such a good boy! *grabs his hand and drags him off* Bye-bye, Tahu, we'll see you tomorrow!

And then they were gone before I could even respond. I laughed and turned to leave for my own house. Yeah, how she managed to have such a serious kid is beyond everyone else in the world.

As I walked, I caught a flash of bright blue, but by the time I whirled around to look at it, it was gone.

* * *

"Oh Tahu, you're home already?" my mother asked when I walked into my house about thirty minutes later. I smiled at her. My mom was nowhere near being like Aruna. She was calm, composed, and sweet. Aruna was sweet as well, but so hyper and high-strung. It was a little odd. The only one who could keep up with her was Lewa, another friend of mine, and that was only because he was just as hyper as she was. Possibly even more so.

"Be quiet going upstairs, your sister's asleep," Mom told me as I walked towards her, hugged her, and then went to go to my room. I nodded and went up the stairs, placing Sanchez's box on my desk when I got all the way up. My two-year-old sister, Taryen. Pain in the butt. No, seriously. All kids are pains, but she was the worst.

Anyway, Sanchez. You know, compared to some other pets I could name, he wasn't so bad. I mean, how cool is it to have a giant spider? The only thing cooler would be a scorpion, but Mom put her foot down at the tarantula. Even as it was, it took a lot of pleading on my dad's part to get her to let him get even that.

At least we didn't have a psychotic attack parrot like Kopaka did. Technically it was his mom's, but it only liked him and his mom. Hated his dad with a passion. And Kopaka would walk around his house with the thing on his shoulder. Should anyone not related to him piss him off (such as me), he would fling the bird at the poor unsuspecting soul, where it would latch onto one of their body parts (my ear, in my case), and not let go until they managed to bash it against the wall or something.

It pierced my ear. Not even joking. From the age of six onward, I had a hole in my left earlobe where stupid Lolita (the bird) had punctured it with her beak. According to my mom, she did a better job with her beak than most professionals did with a needle. But she still wouldn't let me get an earring. It was undignified, she said. Right. Undignified.

Unfortunately for me, my dad agreed with her, although he DID laugh so hard he almost peed when he heard what had happened.

Sometimes, I wondered if I'd been adopted.

* * *

**AN: End chapter one.**

**Lol more later. I'm just so sick of this sitting on my hard drive that, like...I had to get it on here. Ugh, sorry, I know I have other crap to work on, but about nine chapters of this are already finished. They'll all be uploaded later, though.**

**Review, please!**


	2. Attitude

**I've always portrayed Tahu as a bit of a goofball, but it's **_**Zanda Waffle 07's**_** usual portrayal of him that I'm using here. As in, a hothead with a weird sense of humor. Hope that works for you all. Funny thing is, that portrayal actually FITS him. I can totally picture Tahu being this way.**

**Short-ish more-for-info-than-anything-else chapter coming up, guys. Sorry. We gotta have the character development SOMEWHERE in there...and more characters will start appearing next chapter. I know you're all waiting to see what's up with the rest of the Nuva, for instance.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru**_**, something I forgot to mention in the last chapter.**

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

I didn't see the blue-haired girl again that entire year, and she gradually faded into my memory. Despite that, I never fully forgot about her. It always took a prompt to remind me of her, such as, say, a tablecloth dyed the same color as her hair, but think of her still I did.

I was now in the last quarter of my third grade year, still the same old Tahu that I'd always been. Still hot-tempered. Still active in sports. Still a bit more obsessed with fire than I should have been.

Unlike the local middle school, the elementary school's "official" sports teams really weren't that official. They were basically just an excuse for parents to get rid of their kids a few afternoons per week to get the raw energy out of them before they came home. My parents used this tactic, and to my shame, it worked.

They enrolled me in soccer and basketball. I enjoyed both, played them better than most kids my age did, had finally found something I excelled in. But I wasn't fully happy. There was something still missing.

Kopaka attributed this to my nature. I was a very high-strung person, and I felt emotions rather strongly. It was also fairly easy for me to get bored, which was, he told me, the reason for this so-called "missing" part of me.

I told him he was retarded, then went to go sulk in the corner for the rest of the day because a little part of me had to admit that he was at least partially right. I DID get bored easily. It took a lot to command my attention, and if something wasn't exciting enough, I turned my back on it. I was frequently attempting to take dodgeball and tetherball games up a notch during recess and lunch by adding special moves and rules to make it more interesting to me, only to be shot down most of the time. It turns out most girls don't take too kindly to the idea of "tackle dodgeball", which I found ridiculous.

There WAS one person who thought my ideas were great, and that was the play leader for my second grade class, Vakama. Play leaders were just that; older kids from fourth and/or fifth grade who supervised the younger ones while they played to make sure nothing went wrong. Vakama, then a fifth grader, was different from the other play leaders in the fact that he was easygoing and uplifting, never shooting down a suggestion with anything harsher than a smile and a well-thought-out explanation as to just why it wouldn't work.

It was Vakama who first introduced me to the concept of embracing my rowdy side without letting it go out of control, and I was grateful to him for that. He taught me to let go without fully losing grip. How many times had Vakama sat with me during lunch and helped me struggle through math problems and the like? Too many to count.

One of the best moments of my life was when he gave me his "lucky hat" as a reward for finally managing to keep my temper under control and not start yet another fight with the resident school bully, Zaktan, and his gang of morons. It was a standard red hat, nothing special, but to me it was as if I'd been given a crown. It was way too big for me at the time, but I continued to wear it faithfully every day until I outgrew it. Even now, it remains hidden away in a drawer somewhere, a memento of a great friend. My role model had acknowledged me. At that moment, my life was complete.

Of course, later on it became clear that life had quite a few more surprises in store for me. Vakama being proud of me was just the first one.

That wasn't to say he was perfect. Vakama's biggest problem was his lack of confidence in himself, and he couldn't even begin to fathom the idea of people liking him. He was great at cheering other people up, but when it came to himself, he couldn't do it. I later learned that this was due to excessive bullying when he was younger. Being bullied for so long had destroyed his self-esteem, and so he learned to put up a mask that hid it.

It was thanks to Vakama that I learned to tone down a little while still being myself. I was still rowdy and a little wild. I still played pranks on my teachers and classmates. I still fought with my sister over our parents' attention. I still bothered Kopaka on a regular basis for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of the usually stoic blonde. But I no longer teased girls so much and even started making friends with them.

I had crushes, small ones, but crushes nonetheless. I helped some girls try to get close to Kopaka, who couldn't have cared less about the opposite gender. Or about his own, for that matter.

It wasn't until that day in third grade when a girl asked me to be her boyfriend that I really realized the difference between boys and girls. I was shocked, to say the least. She was a cute girl, but not my type. Too shocked to lie, I told her I didn't like her that way. She started crying, smacked me across the face, told me she hated me, and then ran away.

I stood there for a few minutes, totally and utterly bemused and rubbing the sore spot on my cheek where she had slapped me. What was THAT all about? Hitting me for telling her (POLITELY) that I didn't like her the way she liked me? Kopaka was MUCH ruder when he rejected girls, and they never reacted that way to HIM!

Life was rather unfair sometimes.

I heard giggling behind me, and when I turned around to yell at whoever it was for laughing at my pain, I found I was unable to do so.

It was her. The blue-haired girl with yellow eyes.

She was standing there in front of me, one hand over her mouth and obviously trying not to burst out laughing. When she saw me looking at her, she whipped her hand behind her back where her other one was and smiled brightly at me.

"Sorry!" she said in response to my glare (once I had recovered my senses, that is). "It was just so funny!"

"Yeah, I bet it was," I muttered. Despite the fact that I was annoyed she had laughed at me, I made no move to leave. I had finally found her again (or maybe it was more accurate to say SHE had found ME), and I wanted to find out just what it was about her that fascinated me so.

I ended up walking her back to her own classroom after recess ended (yeah, that other girl confessed to me during recess, after asking me to talk with her privately...how utterly cliché), and learned that her name was Gali and that she lived with her adoptive parents a few streets away from where I lived. In fact, she lived right across the street from Kopaka, who she recognized on sight (although for the life of him he couldn't recognize her).

I could tell by the way her eyes followed him as he walked past us, nose in a book and ignoring the world completely, that she had a slight crush on him (maybe more than slight), and I felt a strange surge of emotion that I'd never felt before in my life. It felt almost like I wanted to hit my best friend and knock him over where he stood.

Instead of acting on that impulse, I smiled at her and told her my own name, Tahu. Then, against my better judgment, asked her to hang out with me and Kopaka tomorrow at lunch.

She accepted, and before anything else could be said, the bell rang. With one last smile at her, I ran towards my own classroom, still wrestling with the weird feeling that I wanted nothing more than to punch the living daylights out of my own best friend...all because the girl who I'd had a hard time forgetting for the past year and a half had a crush on him.

* * *

**AN: End chapter two.**

**Originally, this was a longshot, but then it got...well, TOO long, so I decided to split it up into much shorter chapters. Some of them will be quite short, just to let you know. But that's because they were all originally part of a MUCH larger whole, and I just cut them off according to what sounded best. Sigh.**

**Gali has a crush on Kopaka. I have written Gali/Kopaka, no matter how one-sided it is. Holy CRAP. Is the sky falling? Tidal waves? Earthquakes? Generic symptoms of the Apocalypse? *gets shot* This won't end in K/G though. As the fic summary states, this story is T/G. WAI. As usual, though, I allowed my love of subplots to get the better of me D:**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to fangirling over my **_**Transformers G1**_** box set that my lovely older sister so kindly bought for me. *glomps K-sama* No longer shall I have to put up with YouTube's crappy quality!  
**

**Review, please!**


	3. He's Just Not That Into You

**This one seems BORING to me D: Ah well. It IS important, so READ IT!**

**...sorry for yelling, but I'm kind of worked up right now. I didn't sleep last night or the night before, and I am pretty much running off of soda and pure nervous energy right now. After this, I'm gonna go try to take a nap.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

Gali quickly became a part of our little gang, which surprised and delighted me, at the same time that it aggravated me. She was very friendly, able to match my friend Pohatu's wisecracks with a comeback that left him blinking and bewildered, and somehow able to smile and applaud when another friend, Lewa, came running up and balancing five plates in his arms.

Lewa had gotten the nickname "Circus Freak" from me, and I felt that it was justly earned. He could do front flips, back flips, hand stands (as well as one-handed ones), cartwheels, juggle, and climb trees (and other various tall objects, such as the school flagpole) with seemingly no trouble whatsoever. I didn't get it. How could one kid be so hyper and yet so balanced as to be able to perform all of that without failing? Just about the only thing he COULDN'T do was ride a unicycle, and that was only because his parents refused to buy him one for the sake of his health, just in case he fell off and broke his head or something.

And probably for the sake of their own sanity as well, now that I think about it.

I was pretty sure, and everyone else was too, that once he convinced them otherwise, he would master that with relative ease and be one step closer to rivaling Barnum's best circus acts with his tricks.

Not surprisingly, his parents had enrolled him in gymnastics from an early age after first witnessing his strange flexibility, and he had taken to it like the proverbial fish to water. Sometimes I wondered if they ever regretted their decision.

Anyway, Gali spent a certain amount of time with Lewa, laughing at his jokes and his tricks, and giving him pointers the few times he DID fail at them. But mostly she spent her time talking to Kopaka. Or trying to, anyway. Not that he noticed her half the time; he was oblivious to the world when he was reading and he was spending an awful lot of time reading those days. More than he usually did.

That's not to say that we all had the greatest relationship in the world. Arguing was what Kopaka and I seemed to live for, and Gali intervened as soon as one started, each time without fail. And thus, I would forget my anger with Kopaka and start yelling at her instead. She was surprisingly fiery about it, calling me "devil boy" and countering all my arguments with her own. It always ended up with her stomping off in a huff, and me chasing after her a second later to try to apologize.

Onua blamed our arguments on the age difference. Not to mention the differences in personality.

I was at least a year older than all of them. This made me feel like somewhat of a loser, being friends with people who were younger than me, but they were all great. I was two years older than Gali and Lewa, and one year older than Pohatu, Kopaka, and Onua, Pohatu's younger cousin and another friend who usually sat with us during lunch.

But despite all the arguments and conflicts, I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.

* * *

On the last day of my fifth grade year, Gali got up the courage to finally tell Kopaka that she liked him. We were both set to culminate to sixth grade that year, me and him, and she wouldn't be able to see him in school until she was old enough to do the same in two years. Sure they were neighbors, but what did that matter to an elementary school girl? Not a whole lot, apparently.

First, she was going to go up to him and ask him to talk to her alone. Then, she would take his hand and lead him to a less populated area. There, she would confess her feelings and ask if he felt the same about her.

(By then, it was starting to sound familiar. Why? Because that was what that other what's-her-name chick did to ME the day I met Gali. Girls universally think alike, it seems...)

How did I know all that? She confided in me, that's how. She told me practically everything, and had started doing so the previous year. I don't know why she did it, but she did.

I made some snarky comment about originality, and she blushed and smacked me lightly on the arm while calling me "devil boy" again. Her touch left an odd feeling on my skin, but I merely grinned at her and told her she hit like a girl. And that I took that "devil boy" comment as a compliment.

She harrumphed, then stalked away from me with her nose in the air.

The party celebrating mine and Kopaka's culmination from fifth grade was held at my house, and it was in full swing about three hours after its start when I noticed Gali go up to Kopaka right next to the moonbounce and say something to him. He nodded, and then she took his hand and led him into the house, where few people were (most were out in the backyard, partying like wild animals; strange behavior for a kids' party. Then again, my dad was never that great at subtlety: a party was a party, and damn the age group it was really meant for!).

I gritted my teeth and turned away, resisting the urge for perhaps the millionth time to go up to my best friend and punch him in the face.

About ten minutes later, Kopaka came out, looking visibly disturbed and a little horrified. I hurried over to him, dragging Pohatu with me, and he turned to face us, face white. Looking concerned, Pohatu laid a hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.

When Kopaka knocked his hand away, I scowled. At least the action seemed to signify that he was coming out of whatever shock he was in, but still, how rude was that? "What happened, Frosty?" I asked, keeping my tone conversational. _Casual. Light. Be nice._

"Yeah, you look like you're gonna barf." Pohatu added.

At this, Kopaka's face started to pale again, and his eyes stared through me with a fierce intensity before he said, "She...she said she was in love with me."

Pohatu gaped at him and I gritted my teeth again. "And?" I growled out. "What did you say back?"

"Do you like her back?" Pohatu asked.

Kopaka shook his head, closing his eyes. "No. She said she loved me, but I told her that it wasn't love. It's just a crush. I told her she'd find someone someday, but it wasn't me." He took a deep, shaky breath. "I had no idea that she liked me..."

For him, this was babbling. This was probably the most he'd said all month, but I couldn't have cared less about that.

"What did she do?" I asked.

He sighed. "Started crying."

That was enough for me. I shoved him out of my way, nearly knocking him over, and went into the house to search for Gali. She was nowhere downstairs, so I climbed the steps that led to the bedrooms upstairs.

I found her sitting on the floor, hugging her knees and sobbing, outside of my room and immediately dropped down next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders. She froze for a moment, then leaned into me, moved her arms to lock them around my waist, sobbing into my chest and getting tears all over the special shirt my mom had gotten me for this day.

(Not that I cared about that; if anything, I hated the shirt and was thrilled to have a reason not to have to wear it anymore after today. Thankfully, I had managed to convince my mom to let me wear Vakama's hat - that I rarely took off - along with the shirt, against her "better judgment", as she put it.)

After a few minutes, she mumbled, "He doesn't like me. He said no."

I tried not to show how pleased I was by this fact. "Did he now."

"Yeah." She wiped her eyes, but did not get up off of me. "I don't get it!" she blew up. "How come he doesn't like me back? Am I not pretty enough for him? I like him so much! So how come he doesn't like me?"

I shrugged. "Kopaka just...doesn't really notice girls that way. He's too busy reading and stuff. Trust me, you're not the first girl he's had to reject like that...only I'm guessing he was nice about it?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes some more. "Uh-huh. He said he thought I was a good person and a good friend, but that he didn't like me like THAT." More tears started to fall from her eyes. "And then he told me that he's not the one for me. But I thought he was! He's perfect!"

How many times had I heard this, both from her and from the other girls who for some inexplicable reason came to me for comfort when he rejected them? Too many times to count. Not for the first time, I wished that my best friend wasn't so freaking perfect. With all the other ones, I had laughed it off with them, told them that he was nothing more than a heartless ice cube and that they could do much better than him. But with Gali, I didn't know what to say.

"He's smart and handsome--" (A handsome fifth grader...pfffft.) "--and brilliant and talented and...and..." She stopped suddenly, looking confused.

I gave her a wry grin, and she smiled sheepishly. "And...?"

"And it really WAS just a crush." she said softly.

I chuckled and gave her a nudge. "He's not looking so good now, is he?"

She swatted my arm. At least she had stopped crying... "Oh stuff it," she said. "He IS handsome. But...I guess all I had really was just a crush. Thanks, Tahu." She smiled at me, and I felt my stomach flutter.

She had never made me feel like this before, and it scared me. And she hadn't called me "devil boy" either. Was she sick, or was it just the fact that she was overly emotional right then?

"You know what he also told me?" she asked, and I shook my head. I did actually, since he had more or less told me before I went looking for her, but I knew she wanted to tell me this and I wanted to hear it from her. If it made her feel better and helped her get over Kopaka's rejection, I'd be glad to listen.

"He told me that someday, I'd find someone who was right for me and that that person would make me happy. But that person wasn't him and if I looked close enough, I'd see who it really was."

Well. He hadn't told me all of THAT when we were outside.

"Have you figured out who it is yet?"

She shook her head. "No. But I'm gonna look for him, and I'm gonna find him. And you'll be the first person I tell when I find him, Tahu!" She gave me such a radiant smile that I couldn't help but smile back.

"Good to know." I said, and stood up, holding my hand down for her to take. She did indeed take it, and I pulled her up. "Let's go back downstairs, yeah? I'm sure they're looking for me, and for you too, so we should probably get back before my dad has a fit and declares me missing or something."

Gali laughed a this, and I smiled wider. It was good to see her smiling again so soon after her little heartbreak.

Once we went back outside, I caught Kopaka's eyes, and for some reason, he gave me a little smirk. I blinked at him, furrowing my brow, but he just closed his eyes, still smirking, and turned back to the piece of cake he had been eating.

* * *

**AN: End chapter three.**

**And thus does the Gali/Kopaka end! Sorry, dudes. It's not a pairing I have ever been really interested in. I used to be fine with it, but then some jerkoff went and flamed me for writing a T/G oneshot instead of a K/G oneshot, and after that...well. I guess you could say any liking I had for it went KAPUT. Plus, I like Kopaka single. I just can't see him falling in love for some reason D: I might crack and pair him up with someone in here, though...**

**Right then. I'll be off to get some much-needed sleep, if you all don't mind, and I would appreciate waking up to some reviews.**

**...please? Lol, yeah, anyway - please review and tell me what you think! Suggestions and the like are very welcome too (as long as they're not something like, "stop writing")!**


	4. Distance

**Why yes, I AM updating a day early. Why? Because I most likely won't be able to update next week, so I decided to give you all this chapter early to try to make up for that. Going to Hawaii, yeah. For eleven days. Awesomepwnsauce. Also, gonna go to the Rise Against concert with my best friend later today! That's almost as awesome as Hawaii 8D**

**Lalala, new chapter...I really need to figure out a way to make these things longer, seriously. They seem too short to me. What do you guys think?**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

I saw Gali a lot less frequently after culmination day than I would have liked. After all, we now went to different schools, and it wouldn't be until I was thirteen and she was eleven that we would again see each other at school. Until then, we'd simply have to make do with weekends, phone calls, and e-mails, all of which started out with, "Hey there, devil boy, how've you been?" or "Woman, will you give me five minutes to myself?!"

The school I now went to went from sixth to twelfth grade, making it a mixture of high and middle school. On my first day there, I found Vakama again, now a ninth grader and with a girlfriend - a pretty girl with pale blue hair by the name of Nokama. To my surprise, he was so confident now, and it was all thanks to her. She had made him see that his mistakes were in the past and that he needed to let go of them if he were to live his life freely. And it looked as if he had taken her advice.

They were happy together, them and Vakama's little group that reminded me so much of my own group. Kopaka and I ate lunch with them frequently, and to our surprise, they didn't seem to care that we were only sixth graders. It was nice to not be judged for once in my life.

Once again, I was under Vakama's wing, and he was instructing and helping me. Only these days, the instructions usually dealt with how to deal with girls, as I was starting to feel strange around them. All a girl had to do was smile at me, and I would began to act like a total moron.

(Jokes about how that was how I usually acted are unappreciated, by the way.)

Kopaka was still the same - that is, totally oblivious. Jeez, talk about lame. As usual, he had his little group of fangirls that he didn't even know existed, and as usual, he ignored them in favor of his books and education.

It was with Vakama's help that I got my first girlfriend, a pretty girl named Anika. She was indeed pretty, with long blond hair and pale skin, and beautiful brown eyes.

I was still with her the next year when Pohatu and Onua joined us in school, now sixth graders while Kopaka and I were seventh graders. They were polite to her and she to them, but they were never friends with her. Not the way they were with me. Pohatu often jokingly complained that while I was dating her I had little time to be with my friends, because I was always off with her, making out or doing OTHER things (the latter of which was not true, by the way). For my part, I would deny it angrily, then storm off and come back five minutes later in a better mood after pushing some hapless shmuck over or some other activity that helped me let off steam.

For some reason, I never told Gali about my girlfriend. She was completely clueless about it, and none of our other friends told her either. I often felt bad about this, but brushed it off by telling myself that it was none of her business.

Part of the problem was that I hadn't really seen Gali in almost a year. We were both so busy with our own things, me with sports and her with choir, that getting together was a bit of a hassle. As such, I felt a little less attached to her than I had before.

Despite that, some part of me always jumped for joy whenever she called or e-mailed me to ask how I was doing, and I always responded immediately. This was almost unheard of. She was the only person I could be bothered to call or e-mail back in a time span of less than a week (besides Kopaka), and I had no clue why.

My dad would raise his brow at me whenever I got off the phone with her and tell me that playing two women along was a terrible thing. I always retorted with, "I'm not 'playing' two women along. I only have one girlfriend."

To which he would shrug. "Just be careful, Tahu. Girls are strange creatures; who knows what goes on in their heads? A relationship that seems platonic to you might be completely different for her."

Despite the wisecrack in his little speech, I knew the last statement had been the honest truth. But I brushed it off again. What did I care if some girl got her heart broken because she misread my behavior? I didn't.

* * *

I am ashamed to say that with my hormones came desire, for lack of a better word.

I desired Anika, and she knew it. She played me like a fiddle that way, teasing me relentlessly, and I was stuck. It drove me nuts, because I couldn't do anything about it. Until I somehow either a) relieved myself or b) got over it, I was trapped.

It was like that the entire second half of seventh grade, and I was more than a little relieved that Anika lived a fair distance away from me - it meant I had the entire summer to figure out a way to get over the way she had played with me. To my relief, I didn't see her all summer vacation, as she and her family went on a vacation to somewhere in Europe for two months.

Nor did I return her calls and e-mails with all that much conviction. More than half of them went unanswered.

Somehow, it just didn't seem all that important to me to answer them. She was my girlfriend, but I couldn't even be bothered to return her calls. I was a terrible boyfriend, and I knew it. Hell, everyone probably knew it. Onua was constantly reminding me to call her back, since he came over every day to hang out, as his dad had to work long hours and he had nothing better to do. It was usually with Onua hovering over me that I finally picked up the phone and dialed Anika's number or turned on the computer and logged in to my e-mail to return her messages.

He was such a mother hen sometimes...

Anika was always more than happy to hear from me. And more than happy to tease me as well. Several times I had to end the phone conversations early and run up to my room, where I would lock the door and spend hours curled into a ball on my bed and fighting off the weird urges inside of me while my mom and/or sister hammered on the door and demanded that I come out and explain my strange ailment to them (fat chance of that).

Finally, my dad sat me down to explain it to me, what made me feel that way and WHY I was feeling that way. He told me it was natural for a boy my age to have those feelings and not to be ashamed, but to be careful about what I did with it.

"There's nothing to worry about, Dad," I smiled, intensely relieved. "Seriously, I'll be careful."

"Be careful, but don't be a prude," he said with a grin, and I felt a thrill of shock run through me. "Don't be afraid to branch out, but like I said, be CAREFUL. Make out a little, but no sex till you're at LEAST sixteen, alright?"

At this, I turned red enough to rival my eye color (which was really more pink than red, stupid genetics), and hung my head, allowing my hair to fall into my face to cover my blush (I'd never been so grateful to have bright orange hair before). His statement had brought a flurry of images to my head, all of which included the color blue somewhere in them.

"OK, Dad." I rolled my eyes, forced a smile, and went back outside to go find Pohatu and Onua. I felt like a little soccer right then. Maybe it would help calm me down.

* * *

**AN: End chapter four.**

**Yet ANOTHER complication for the Tahu/Gali relationship that has yet to really progress! Will they EVER admit that they like each other?! Not while Tahu remains completely and totally clueless, they won't. Sigh...**_**men**_**...ahaha, no, I'm kidding! Not ALL boys are clueless. A surprising majority seem to be, though. **_**Zanda Waffle 07**_**, I am looking at YOU.**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	5. 99 Red Balloons

**Hola, mis amigos! Turns out I'm able to update this week after all! Apparently my parents can't live without an internet connection, so the house we're staying in has a pretty damn powerful wireless system set up. Badass.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

Eighth grade rolled around with little to no trouble, unless you counted the fact that Lewa was now enrolled in my school and had brought all of his old Circus Freak equipment with him the first day. And used it to thoroughly ruin the First Day of School Assembly being given by the assistant principal, a tall and surly man named Teridax.

Needless to say, Lewa was quite popular after that. Just not with Teridax. Teridax did not take kindly to being nearly run over by a green-haired kid on a giant inflatable ball, while said kid was carrying no less than six binders in his hands at the same time. Not that I blamed him, really.

Typical airheaded Lewa.

Naturally, our beloved assistant principal was all for getting him suspended (expelled, if he had his way), but unfortunately for him, the principal thought it was hilarious. Principal Mata Nui was indeed a strange man, and an even stranger principal, and he loved nothing more than students showing off their talents without conviction. And so Teridax's request was shot down. Although he DID manage to convince Mata Nui that there were certain rules of conduct that had to be followed; namely that interrupting (or rather, trying to run over) your elders and betters while they were talking was a bad thing. All this accomplished, of course, was to keep Lewa from doing anything more dangerous than balancing a couple books on his head and walking around like that in class or during assemblies. The hallways and lunchtime were fair game, however, something that had Teridax gnashing his teeth for quite a while afterwards.

The best part of that year was that Gali was now here, and I saw her for the first time in over a year that day.

I admit that I was nervous. Hell, I was practically terrified. Something inside me stirred as I saw her get off the bus that went to her neighborhood (I had finally scored a ride to school from my mom), and rushed over to see her.

She greeted me with a grin and tackling hug that nearly knocked me over, happiness practically radiating off of her every which way. Not that I minded, of course. I was delighted to see her again as well. After all, I had missed her and the friendship we had had before. I wanted to share that with her again.

"Devil boy! Long time no see!" she yelled, letting go of me.

Before I could reply, though, I was grabbed by the neck from behind, and choked a little while reeling backwards into the arms of Anika, who wasted no time in pulling me down to her height and kissing me harder than she'd ever kissed me before. I felt Gali's eyes burning into me, and quickly pushed Anika away, laughing nervously.

"Um...Tahu, who is this?" Anika asked, gesturing at Gali.

"I'm Gali, one of Tahu's old friends from elementary school," Gali said, extending a hand. Anika took it, giving a slight smirk. I sighed. I knew that smirk. That was the smirk she got whenever I tried to make friends with another girl, the smirk that told me that the friendship was not going to last long for some reason or another.

"It's nice to meet you," my girlfriend said, and Gali smiled as well. Anika then turned to me, running a finger down my chest, and whispered into my ear, "Meet me behind the gym at lunch."

And then she was gone, running off to her own class, but not before kissing me again.

I breathed in deep and turned to Gali, who had a strangely blank look on her face. "Uh...well, that was Anika. So...um..."

"I have to get to class, it's almost time for it to begin." She cut me off so easily, it was almost as if we had rehearsed this moment for weeks. She flashed me a slight smile as she turned to leave. "See you around, Tahu."

* * *

It was strange. Usually when Anika told me to meet her somewhere, I would feel nervous and excited, but today I felt nothing. I still considered her pretty, but nothing more than that.

I met her behind the gym as she had instructed, and she wasted no time in burying her fingers in my messy orange hair (that really needed a trim, I'd have to talk to my mom about that) and kissing me deeply. I froze up for a moment, staring at her in shock. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why she was kissing me...

Oh, right, because I was her boyfriend and boyfriends are usually only too willing to make out with their girlfriends. This was the first time I'd felt anything but eager to do so. I gripped her shoulders to push her away, but obviously she thought I was getting into it because she pushed me towards the outer brick wall of the gym, tugging on my hair and making me wince, as well as knocking my hat off. She always did that, but I'd never minded before now.

Struggling a bit, I managed to push her away, and she looked up at me with wide, surprised eyes. "I'm not feeling good right now," I muttered, and shoved past her without meeting her gaze, making sure to scoop my hat up as I went.

What the hell was wrong with me? Why wasn't I responding the way I always had before? This was going to drive me mad if I didn't find a reason for it, I was willing to bet.

Pohatu laughed at me when I sat down at our table, and I turned to glare at him, asking, "What?" He snickered some more and pointed at my hair. "Looks like someone's been getting a little...ah, busy, eh, Onua?" He elbowed his younger cousin in the ribs.

I rolled my eyes and dragged my hands through my hair, tidying it up somewhat, and then jammed my hat back on. It was naturally a mess (both from genetics and from wearing that hat so much), but Anika's tugs had screwed it up even more than usual, and this embarrassed me for some reason.

The only one who wasn't ribbing at me (or in Kopaka's case, sighing and calling me a horny idiot) was Gali. She went on quietly eating her lunch with barely a word.

* * *

"You're a fool, you know that?"

"What, you've had enough with just calling me an idiot? Branching out, are we, Snowcone?"

Kopaka rolled his eyes and plucked my hat off my head, evading my attempts at snatching it back. My hair, as usual, was a mess and without my hat, it looked even worse. "Give it back, you jackass!"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong with you," he snapped, glaring at me. I sighed aggravatedly, leaning back against the couch of my living room, which we were both currently sitting on while watching TV.

"Look, there's nothing wrong with me, alright? I'm just thinking about things, is all."

"Tahu, you and I both know that you never think this deeply unless seriously bothered about something. So spit it out. What the hell happened to you?"

I sighed again. "Girl problems, alright? The whole 'Anika relationship thing' isn't going as great as I'd like it to go. Satisfied now?"

"No."

"What?! Come on, I explained my problem and everything!"

"No you didn't. What's the matter with Anika all of a sudden that you're having problems? You used to go on about how much you liked her."

Aggravation. Really. That's what his parents should have named him. It would have fit him so much better than his actual one.

"I don't freaking know, alright?"

"Well then, go over today's events with me. Maybe that'll help. By going over past events, you can see what you did wrong."

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to straighten it out. Not for the first time, I envied Kopaka for his so-called "perfection". He didn't have to worry about messy hair. Well, his hair wasn't exactly "neat", per se, but at least he could control its general state. Unlike me, who just had perpetual hat hair. Whether or not I wore a hat.

"Phwa, I dunno...um...OK, so I woke up ten minutes late, as usual, got dragged out of bed by my mom, ate a poptart, Mom drove me to school, and then I saw Gali." He gave a small smirk at this, but motioned for me to go on. "Said hi to her, and then Anika practically strangled me from behind and I introduced her to Gali. And then school, yadda yadda yadda, slept through first period, and during lunch met Anika by the gym, where she, uh...yeah. Anyway. Nothing. Not even a freaking BUZZ. And that's it. There. Satisfied NOW?"

He nodded. "I think I know what's wrong with you, but I'm not going to tell you."

"WHAT?! You ass, why not?!"

"Because if I do, it'll just make it worse. This is something that you have to figure out on your own. WITHOUT my help for once."

I gaped at him. "So I just told you my problem for NOTHING?"

He gave another nod. "Pretty much."

Instead of raising a fuss like I wanted to, I kept it in. It wouldn't have worked anyway, so I turned to the OTHER matter at hand in an attempt to distract myself.

"Great, now gimme back my hat, you bastard!"

"Get it yourself." And he threw it behind him, where it landed with a "plonk!" into the open fish tank.

* * *

From then on, nothing Anika did elicited that kind of response from me.

I didn't know why, and stopped caring after agonizing over it for a few weeks. What did I care? She was fun to be around once she stopped talking about gossip and other useless crap I didn't care about.

Instead, I found myself staring after Gali more and more. Something about her just drew my gaze, and I often caught myself staring at her for abnormally long periods of time. She was so easy to look at, I explained to Kopaka when he snapped at me to quit staring at her ass and pay attention to whatever the assembly we were in at the time was about.

"Sure, whatever makes you feel good about yourself," he replied, and plugged himself back into his Mp3 player, dead to the world for the rest of the assembly. Hypocrite.

Finally, I found it in me to break up with Anika, which wasn't a pleasant experience, let me tell you. She was not happy that I was breaking up with her after almost two years of going out, and ranted and shouted at me for almost an hour before I shut her out and just stared blankly at the wall.

I had no romantic feelings for her anymore (hadn't for a while), and I felt like a moron for being in a relationship with someone I didn't actually care for. If you're going to be with someone, you might as well go easy on yourself and get with someone you like.

Of course, she couldn't resist taking a few (OK, more than a few) jabs at me during this little rant.

"I bet I know what's wrong with you," she sneered, and I snapped my gaze over to her. She did? Well why the hell hadn't she told me earlier?! This would solve all my problems and I could go live my life in peace, with no more weird questions plaguing me!

"You like that Gali girl you hang out with," she said spitefully, and I stiffened up all over, shocked. What the hell? Where'd she come up with THAT idea? I did not like Gali, I was certain of that. Sure, I felt weird around her and often found myself heating up and staring at her whenever she was around, but it wasn't anything big.

"So, how many of you has she fucked yet?" Anika asked, and a fresh wave of shock washed over me.

"Excuse me?"

"It always happens," she went on, "A girl hangs out with a group of guys and sure enough, she's fucking at least two of them. How many of you guys has she gotten around with yet? Obviously you, and...hm, let me guess...that Kopaka guy too, right? And maybe Pohatu as well, they're pretty close too, aren't they? And--"

She got no further, as I had grabbed her shoulders. She flinched, my fingers having been digging into her quite hard, but I paid that no mind. I was angry; hell, more than angry. I was furious. Not only had she just called Gali a slut, she had reminded me of the one thing in life that I was most ashamed of: wanting to hurt Kopaka because Gali had liked him before.

"Never say anything about her ever again, Anika," I snarled, and she looked up at me, eyes wide. I was tall for a thirteen-year-old, I knew, and I used that to my advantage here. I practically towered over her. "Don't go near her, don't talk to her. Don't even LOOK at her, or I swear to God, I'll make you regret it."

She wrenched away from me, tears falling from her eyes, and ran away, burying her face in her hands as she went.

I sighed and leaned back, feeling the anger still swirling around inside of me.

And thus was my first relationship over. Instead of being sad about it, I felt strangely light. It was nice to be free of the restraints of having a girlfriend, I admitted to myself as I made my way back home from Anika's house on my bike. I was free to do what I wanted to without worrying I was upsetting my girlfriend. I wouldn't have to worry about her calling me in the middle of guy time or getting mad at me for not responding to her touches.

It was a nice feeling, and I savored it. Didn't stop me from being a little upset by it, though. My first relationship had ended in the worst way possible.

* * *

"Tahu, you're not concentrating, and we HAVE to get this math homework of yours finished before tomorrow if you want a passing grade. What's the matter with you?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing..."

"Come on now, I know you better than that. Something's bothering you."

"V, seriously, it's nothing. I'm alright."

"No you're not. OK, maybe you are, but you certainly don't LOOK alright. Is something bothering you? You look a little messed up."

"Just...girl problems."

"Ah..."

"Yeah. Turns out Anika wasn't quite as great as we thought she was."

A chuckle from his end. "You're still a bit young to be in a serious relationship, Tahu. Girls will come and go."

"That's not what's happening between you and Nokama. You've been with her for four years now. If you're not careful, you'll end up falling in love with her. And you don't want that, do you?"

"...she's different."

"How so?"

"She...she just is."

"That still doesn't make any sense, Vakama."

"Hm, OK, how about this...how does Anika make you feel?"

"To be honest? Sick."

Another laugh. "I meant before your little spat with her, Tahu."

"Oh. Well...she made me feel excited. Er...like watching a basketball game, I guess."

"And after the excitement passed?"

"Eh? Well...after that, she wasn't that interesting to be around..."

"There you go. Excitement is a passing thing, no matter how good it is for a relationship. Happiness, real, true happiness, is something that will last you forever."

"And...Nokama makes you really and truly happy, does she?"

This time, the smile on his face was nothing short of tender, despite my cynical tone. "She makes me more than happy. Even when the excitement of being around her wears off, the happiness never goes away. It never has."

"I...see..."

* * *

**AN: End chapter five.**

**Kopaka is amazingly fun to write, despite the fact that he's probably my least favorite of the Toa Nuva. Don't get me wrong, I like him, just...not as much as the others. It's kind of weird.**

**By the way - Hawaii's a lot of fun, seriously. There are geckos literally all over the place, including the house 8D **_**Zanda Waffle 07**_** and I have reclaimed our title as the Infamous Twin Terrors and chased our older sister around with some of them earlier today.**

**Another by the way - psycho girlfriends equal SCARY. I will never forget the day this one girl chewed out my brother in front of pretty much everyone in the school simply for turning her down for a date. Apparently she was convinced he had been in love with her, and when he told her otherwise, she accused him of several illicit affairs with other girls. WTF. Hormonal girls can be pretty terrifying sometimes.  
**

**Well, all that aside, please review and tell me what you think of the chapter! Suggestions and the like are more than welcome, too, since I'm currently in the process of going over and editing the next couple chapters.**


	6. Boys Will Be Boys

**Sorry that this is a day or so late, guys. I was busy unpacking since I got back home from vacation just yesterday. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

Two years later, things hadn't changed much. Pohatu now had a girlfriend as well, a slightly sarcastic and vivacious girl by the name of Reha, although he somehow managed to mete out his time with her and with the group nicely, spending nearly equal time with both. Surprisingly, Reha didn't mind this in the least bit. She complained about it jokingly to us a few times, but it didn't bother her that much in the long run. Pohatu was a free spirit and needed his space. Plus, she had friends that she wanted to keep close to as well.

Kopaka was still the same old prudish bookworm he had always been. The only difference was that he had finally acknowledged the existence of his little fanclub, and promptly shot them all down by announcing over the intercom during morning announcements that he had taken a vow of celibacy. As in, no sex. Ever. Of course, this only led to rumors and speculations that he was secretly gay and only using the whole celibacy thing as a cover up. Personally, I was fairly sure he just didn't care about those kinds of things.

Hell, he found one of Pohatu's dirty magazines (that was a gift from Vakama's friend Onewa, who Pohatu'd become quite close to) and didn't even blink. What was WRONG with that kid?

For a while after that, I found myself screaming my voice box hoarse at girls who came up to me to ask if I was the one Kopaka was gay for. How they came to this conclusion, I'll never know. What part of "He's prude and closeted" did they not get? What, they think that just because he wouldn't touch them with a heavy textbook that he MUST be gay, and me along with him?

As for Lewa, he was still the Circus Freak. School was never boring while he was in the vicinity. He had upgraded his arsenal with a whole new set of gear, including that unicycle his parents had finally caved in about, and his newest talent, magic tricks. Especially reading cards and fortunes. And he was smart about it, too. Girls (and some boys, too) SWORE that his predictions came true, and flocked to him to tell their fortunes. And Lewa, that sneaky little bastard, began charging them. Five bucks per fortune. Now that may seem like a ripoff, but he got away with it. By the end of the first week, he was rich.

Magic tricks, pffft. There was no such thing as magic, no matter what my sister Taryen insisted. I knew better. To be honest, I think she was just trying to get back at me for ruining Santa Claus for her by telling her he didn't exist when she was five, because she kept pestering me to get MY fortune told. Finally, to shut her up, I caved and dragged Kopaka with me to see Lewa during lunch one day and told him to make it quick.

"Since you're my pal, Tahu-friend, I'll give you a discount!" Lewa said cheerfully. "Three bucks!"

"Ripoff artist!" I hissed, but forked over the money. He took it, stuffed it into his wallet, then began shuffling his card deck. After a minute, he yanked five cards at random out and laid them, face down, on the lunch table we were sitting at.

"First card tells about your future career!" he said, and held it up. "Hey, not too bad! You won't be Bill Gates, but money shouldn't be a problem."

I smirked. So far, so good. At least it was better than Onua's. The day before, Onua had chased Lewa around with a geography textbook for telling him he was doomed to be a stuffy, closeted historian-librarian when he grew up and would make, on average, about 10 bucks an hour.

"Second card is for family!" Lewa said. "Again, not too bad. Wow, Tahu, your future's looking good!"

"Yeah, yeah," I snorted, pretending to be disinterested. Hey, I had a reputation to keep. "Get on with it!"

"OK!" He flipped the third card and started laughing. "This one's all about personality; and it basically means you're hot tempered, surly, get mad at the drop of a hat, and rush into things without thinking."

"Typical Aries," Kopaka muttered, and I glared at him. My star sign had absolutely NOTHING to do with this.

"Fourth card!" Lewa chirped, completely ignoring him. "Immediate future!" His face fell for a moment, and he looked a little nervous.

"What?" I asked. "Is something wrong?" Man, I KNEW I shouldn't have bothered with this crap...

Lewa giggled nervously. "Er, no, unless you consider some sort of heartbreak in the near future a bad thing..."

Heartbreak, a bad thing? What a genius Lewa was! And to think I had never known that before! Really, with friends like these, who NEEDED enemies? What a day this was shaping up to be. Not to mention it was the middle of December, so I was already feeling a little bit moody. I hated cold weather, although Kopaka of course thrived in it. Speaking of Kopaka, I needed to get his fortune told while we were still here.

"Um, next card is for love." Lewa said quickly, and against my will, I looked up. To my slight relief, a grin broke out on his face at the card he held, and then he started laughing. "What?" I asked. "What is it? Something bad again?"

He stuffed his fist in his mouth to muffle his laughter, as it was now drawing stares from all around, and Kopaka sighed and whacked him over the head. Once Lewa's little laughing fit was done, he wiped he eyes and chirped, "Oh no! It's much nicer than the last one, Tahu-friend! And funnier too!" When I still looked confused, he went on, "This one here means you're in denial about someone. SEVERE denial. And until you manage to admit it to yourself, you'll never find true love, so there!"

There was an awkward silence, which Kopaka broke by saying, "Tahu, I swear to God, if the rumors are true and you ARE secretly gay for me, I'll kick your ass and feed you to the crows."

I whirled on him. "Who would WANT to be gay for you, you passive ass?!" And then I turned to Lewa, who ducked as though expecting me to hit him. "And what do you MEAN, in denial? I'm not in denial about ANYTHING!"

Maybe I was overreacting a bit, but hell, I was fifteen years old, hot-headed, and did NOT appreciate having my sense of knowing myself questioned. Especially not by a green-haired, scrawny, goofy, Circus Freak like Lewa.

"Anything?" Kopaka snorted. "What about--"

"If you dare say anything about my awesomeness, you're DEAD." I snapped, and he smirked. "Lewa, I think I'd KNOW if I liked someone. Hell, in case you forgot, I had a girlfriend for, what, three years?"

"Two." Kopaka corrected. "Don't bulk up the time period to make yourself look better."

I ignored him in favor of ranting at Lewa some more. "And furthermore, there's no girl around here who really catches my interest, so there!"

"You know, Tahu, you should really tone down the yelling before the yard duty comes over and gives you another detention."

I whirled around at that voice. I knew that voice. Hell, I ate lunch with its owner at least four times a week, I had BETTER know that voice. As expected, it was Gali. As usual, I felt a little lighter upon seeing her. Her hair was still long, but was now tied at the end with a red ribbon I had given her for her birthday one year. And to make it even better, she was short. Not even up to my shoulders. This meant I could tease her about her height, and believe me, it was the highlight of my day watching her get mad and try to make herself my height by standing on her toes or something. Not to mention she was cute when she was mad, something several people (including my parents) agreed with me about.

But she wasn't alone. There was a boy standing next to her, and I was shocked to see that he was holding her hand. "Oh..." Lewa murmured behind me, and Kopaka put a hand on my shoulder. I ignored both of them.

"Um...yeah." I said to Gali, who smiled at me. "Er...who's that?"

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot you guys haven't met yet." She flashed the other boy a smile that made the one she gave me seem to pale in comparison and said, "Vezok, meet Tahu, Kopaka, and Lewa. We've been friends since forever. Guys, this is Vezok, my boyfriend!"

_Boyfriend._

You know how when we were younger and she still liked Kopaka, I wanted to punch said blonde out because of said crush she had on him? That was nothing, NOTHING, compared to what I was feeling now. I must have stiffened up or given some other warning sign, because Kopaka's hand tightened on my shoulder, fingers digging in painfully. I winced and threw him off, then forced a smile and offered my hand to this...Vezok.

"Nice to meet you." I tried to make my smile look real, and I think it succeeded, because he gave me a smile that honestly looked more like a sneer as he shook my hand. "So, how'd you guys meet?"

"He's my algebra tutor," Gali said. "And...well, it just happened."

As if that made any sense AT ALL.

I hated girls. It was too bad I'd stopped wearing my hat the year before, as it had often given me something to fiddle with when I was feeling nervous, aggravated, or had just consumed too much sugar and/or caffeine for my own good.

After a few more minutes in which I discreetly glared at Vezok and he ignored me in favor of practically feeling Gali up in front of us as she chatted to Lewa, the new couple left. I didn't move for a good two minutes.

"I told you that you had something bad coming up real soon..." Lewa murmured, but I ignored him, my hair hanging in my eyes.

"Come on." Kopaka took my shoulder again and steered me away. "We'll see you later, Lewa," he called over his shoulder as he dragged me off towards my next class.

* * *

**Reasons I, Tahu, Hate Girls:**

_**(done on insistence of his best friend / therapist, Kopaka)**_

**(more like resident bastard)**

**- They giggle incessantly (well, most of them do)**

**- They obsess over their hair and makeup and clothes and stuff (all I need to do to look presentable in the morning is throw on that hat Vakama gave me...even though it doesn't fit anymore)**

_**(it just made you look like a juvenile delinquent.)**_

**- They obsess over boys (we're not that great, seriously)**

**- Most of them are catty bitches (I can name more than a few who fit this one)**

**- Most are absolute wusses, a.k.a., one look at a spider and they cry**

_**(then again, so does Pohatu)**_

**- They're so afraid of getting dirty that they don't have any REAL fun**

_**(so now not wanting to get covered in mud is a bad thing?)**_

**- Overly romantic and starry-eyed**

**- They always choose the WORST boys to like**

_**(why does it feel like that's the one you're most angry about?)**_

**(screw you, KP, go play with your Nazi attack bird)**

_**(DON'T call me KP, it makes me sound like some sort of wannabe rap artist)**_

**(all the more reason to call you that, then)**

_**(don't take your aggravation out on me, moron, take it up with the one you're having your problem with.)**_

**(you know what? This crap's pointless. Therapy session over.)**

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it--"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have six new messages. First message..."_

***beep***

"_Tahu, this is Reha. I would like an explanation as to just WHY you pushed my boyfriend into a mud puddle, if you please. If your excuse is good enough, I promise I won't beat you TOO hard. And you BETTER call me back, flame-boy, or you won't like the consequences."_

***beep***

"_Uh, hey, Tahu, this is Pohatu. Um, if Reha called you up to threaten your life and/or manhood, rest assured that I am keeping her on a short leash, thus saving your life. Although I WOULD like to know what was making you act so pissy earlier. Seriously, man, my dad's PISSED about my clothes. Anyway, see you at school tomorrow. Bye."_

***beep***

"_Answer your damn phone already, you moron, I'm bloody sick of that answering machine of yours. Call me back, and be snappy about it. I've got better things to do than allow you to bring me down with your stupid teenage angst."_

***beep***

"_Hi, Tahu, this is Vakama. Kopaka told me something's bothering you again. Want to talk about it? If you do, you know how to get a hold of me, so give me a call, OK? Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Duty calls!_

_...I always wanted to say that."_

***beep***

"_Dad says for you to get your butt down here and eat your dinner or else he's feeding it to Sanchez. Oh yeah, and he ALSO says to tell you that you're acting like a girl on her period. By the way, what's a period?"_

***beep***

"_Devil boy, it's me. Listen, are you alright? You aren't talking to me...did I do something wrong? Please call me back. Whatever I did, I'm sorry, OK?"_

"_Gali, get off the phone already, I'm gettin' bored over here!"_

"_Oops, gotta go. Anyway, PLEASE talk to me again, Tahu. See you tomorrow, OK?"_

***beep***

_..._

"_Messages deleted.__"_

* * *

**AN: End chapter six.**

**What, more dating drama? Well, it was time Tahu got it handed to him (again), I figured. Plus, dating drama is all the rage in middle and high school. I was probably the only girl I knew when I was that age to not be absolutely OBSESSED with boys and getting a boyfriend. It was funny watching those who DID, though. Some of those catfights were nothing short of hilarious.**

**I swear it starts getting funny again in the next chapter. Or at least, I hope so. The last few chapters haven't been so great on the humor aspect of the story D:**

**Also, Tahu's phone number was created by closing my eyes and pressing random buttons on my own phone. Yay for spastic methods!**

**Review, please!**


	7. Over My Head

**...is it Sunday already? I seriously thought it was still Friday...**

**I'll be glad when class starts up again so I have something to keep track of the days of the week with! Also, I've SORTA been neglecting my writing to play the madly addicting game known as **_**Pokémon: Diamond Version**_**. Soon I shall restart **_**Platinum**_**, but for now, **_**Diamond**_** is my love. I have the most badass Jolteon EVER. Seriously.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

I was not in a good mood for the next several weeks. Thankfully I managed to not ruin the holidays for my friends and family, but it was a very near thing. January came to its end and they were STILL going out. I didn't get it.

When Valentine's Day rolled around, I was seriously considering faking sick and staying home from school that day. No way was I going to watch Vezok and Gali be all fluffy and crap. No freaking way. However, this meant that I would be leaving Kopaka to fend off those fangirls (who STILL persisted even through his so-called "vow of celibacy" and the rumors of him being gay) by himself. That would be cruel of me to do such a thing.

The year before, they had chased him all the way into the boys' locker room of the gym, where he hid in MY locker, thus leaving ME to fight them off with a pair of sweaty gym socks. Never before had I been so grateful that sweat and stench stick to cotton so much. It had most certainly saved both our lives that day.

To my relief, Pohatu and his girlfriend Reha had decided to spend lunch somewhere alone together. That way, I didn't have to watch them be all lovey either, thus reminding me of two OTHER people I didn't want to watch.

(Reha was weird. She did karate and kick-boxing, and would challenge various people to matches when they pissed her off. How she and Pohatu managed to get together was a mystery, although the rumor was that it had something to do with the fact that he beat her in a kick-boxing match, with the prize being that the loser had to buy the winner dinner that night. Although he had had to drag her to the nurse's office afterwards, since he had apparently knocked her out, resulting in both of them getting suspended for two days for fighting in school. And thus the start of a beautiful relationship? "Oh hey, I just knocked you senseless, we should go out sometime! By the way, sorry for any permanent head trauma!" Freaks...)

I didn't quite get all the lovey-dovey-ness of this stupid holiday. On V-day, you're supposed to be nice and loving to your significant other, right, I get that. So, does that mean you can be an ass to them every other day of the year then? Idiots. Kopaka agreed wholeheartedly with me, and let me know this as soon as he was done pilfering the better half of my lunch (which was a ritual that had continued since we were both still in second grade; old habits sure do die hard).

I spent that entire morning wrestling with myself. I wanted so badly to just hit something, but unfortunately for me, my parents wouldn't stand for another suspension brought on by fighting in school, so I was stuck merely scowling at everything and doing a very nice impression of Kopaka's usual attitude.

Of course, Lewa made a fortune that day from girls (most of whom had ALREADY had their fortunes told by him, ugh...), all wanting to know if they'd get asked out that day. To my surprise, I saw Gali among that crowd during nutrition when I went on a bathroom break after consuming about three sodas during second period in an attempt to cheer myself up (it didn't work). I had no idea what she was asking the Circus Freak about, and he wouldn't tell me either when I asked him about it later, but that didn't stop a slight flicker from going off in my chest.

Vezok wasn't there all day. Gali didn't know where he was, and that fact cheered me more than anything else could have, up to and including watching Kopaka open up his locker that morning and let out a yell as he was buried under a virtual mountain of love notes.

Instead, she spent lunch with us. And for the first time in over a month, I talked to her naturally, instead of the forced smiles and cut off conversations we'd been having. It felt good to have my friend back. I could admit to myself that I treasured her and that I still spent an inordinate amount of time staring at her when I shouldn't have been, but it was the same for any good friend. I had been sore for days when Lewa first decided to "set up shop", as Onua put it, with his little fortune telling business, thus depriving us of our lunchtime entertainment, but visited him at his little stand on a regular basis. We all did.

It was what friends did.

My mood was good up until the end of lunch when I went on another bathroom break, only to backtrack a bit after hearing some very odd sounds coming from the bottom of the stairwell. One problem I'd always had was controlling my curiosity, and that day was no exception.

Curiosity killed the cat, right?

I'm sure you can imagine my horror when I poked my head around the wall and saw Pohatu and Reha there, practically entangled with each other and playing a very serious game of tonsil hockey.

"OH MY GOD!"

Pohatu lifted his head and saw me, then glared. "Tahu! Get out of here before I make you!"

"Ohhhhh my God, that was gross, what the hell are you guys DOING--"

This time, it was Reha that glared at me, and let me tell you, she was SCARY when she was mad. "Tahu," she said, "you have two seconds to scram or I'm gonna--"

Before she could finish her sentence, I had dashed back outside, back to the lunch table, wishing I had some sort of soap and sponge that would work on clearing from my mind the image of two of my friends making out.

"And you call ME a prude." Kopaka snorted when I told him what I had seen. Gali merely giggled, while Onua sighed and I began explaining the nastiness of it all.

"They were all over each other, like they were trying to ABSORB each other," I snapped, and Gali laughed harder. "You would be scarred too if you'd seen it!"

Onua sighed again. "Why do you think I don't go over to his house anymore unless my dad makes me?"

I shuddered. "Seriously, man--"

"Oh, Tahu, get over it." Gali said, still laughing a bit. "They were just kissing. Not like it really matters. And you DID kind of walk in on them. At least they were TRYING to keep it a private thing, right?"

I would have sold my soul in that instant to snap at her that she must know a lot about that kind of thing, but kept it to myself, since the same _kind of_ applied to me. Instead, I settled for snorting and crossing my arms.

"You can't talk, moron," Kopaka deadpanned at me. "Remember that freak you used to go out with?"

"At least I've HAD a girlfriend, unlike SOME people I can name!"

He shrugged. "I don't care about girls. I prefer being around boys."

As one, Onua and I both backed up a bit, and he snapped, "Not like that, assholes! Boys are just less dramatic and troublesome than girls are, although I'm willing to make an exception to the rule in your case, Tahu."

Gali grabbed my arm to keep me from smacking him, and I turned to look at her. She gave me a bright smile, and against my will, I found myself sitting back down, ignoring Kopaka and Onua's matching smirks.

She looked incredibly pleased with herself for the rest of the day, although for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.

* * *

The worst part of that day was after dinner, and Taryen came into my room and presented me with the proud statement that she had been given no less than five Valentines that day. Interrupting me in the middle of my rant about how no horny boys were going to be touching MY sister, she informed me that it was all, in fact, OK!

I raised a brow, curious. "Oh really? How is this OK? You don't know boys, Taryen. They're...they're EVIL. All they care about is--"

"Sex, yes, I know, Dad's been freaking out about it downstairs for over an hour now," she told me. "But yeah, it's OK, because I won't be going with any of these guys."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God! You know, for a minute there I was really worried--"

"Yup, because I've decided I'm gonna marry Kopaka when I grow up!"

.....................

Cue explosion and total brain meltdown.

"TAHU! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! THAT'S IT, I'M CALLING GALI!"

* * *

1-564-978-3786

"_That - that duuuuude looks like a LAAAADY! That - that duuuuude looks like a LAAAADY! That--"_

***click***

"_If you don't know whose voice mail this is, then you have no business calling me. Telemarketers, hang up now, because I have no interest in your scams. If you DO know who I am, though, then leave a short message. I'll call you back if and when time allows. And if you're Tahu or Lewa, don't even THINK of another stupid prank call."_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First message..."_

***beep***

"_I swear to God, snowcone, if you DARE touch my sister then I will hunt you down and GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! I don't know WHAT you used to brainwash her with, but rest assured that you won't be getting away with it! Hey, give that back, Gali - no you don't understand, this is IMPORTANT--"_

"_Sorry about that, Kopaka, I'm keeping him under control. Uh...just delete this message and pretend you never got it, k?"_

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it--"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have two new messages. First message..."_

***beep***

"_When the hell did I brainwash your sister, idiot? I haven't been anywhere near her in over a month, so unless I've suddenly become a telepath, no brainwashing has been done. Use your brain for once - just make sure to stop when doing it starts hurting. Wouldn't want you having a breakdown, now would we?"_

***beep***

"_By the way, tomorrow you are changing the ring tone on my phone. After I'm done maiming you for putting that song as my ring tone, of course."_

* * *

1-564-431-6930

"_Because tonight I'm so inspired - I feel the beat, it takes me higher! To break free is my desire - this is the new me! I just wanna let it go, let it go--"_

***click***

"_Yo, you've reached Reha's voice mail, but I'm too busy to pick up right now. Currently not accepting any martial arts or kick-boxing challenges after what happened the LAST time I did, but anyway, yeah, leave a message. Later!"_

***click***

"_You have three new messages. First message..."_

"_Nice ring tone, babe, I never knew you needed to take inspiration from your phone! Haha, kidding aside, call me back. My dad is demanding that he meet you and your family, so we gotta set some kinda date or something up for that. Aaaanyway, see you at school tomorrow! Bye!_

_AND HA, I TOTALLY OWNED YOU AT KICK-BOXING, BEAT THAT!"_

***beep***

"_Reha, you gotta help me out. Kopaka has brainwashed my sister into wanting to MARRY him! This must not be tolerated! You have to help me either a) make him pay or b) help me find a way to reverse the effects of this brainwashing! I am totally willing to pay you for this. CALL ME BACK._

_By the way, this is Tahu!"_

***beep***

"_This is Kopaka. If Tahu called you about me brainwashing his sister, then please, for the love of God ignore him. I think he's just taken one too many basketballs to the head. Thanks for your time."_

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it--"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have two new messages. First message..."_

***beep***

"_Hey, flame-boy, this is Reha. Sorry, but you're on your own there. And, uh, I doubt he had to resort to brainwashing to get Taryen to like him, man. All he's gotta do is blink those pretty eyes of his and girls fall all over him._

_...do not tell Pohatu I said that. I'll kick your ass. I mean it."_

***beep***

"_WILL YOU STOP GOING AROUND AND TELLING PEOPLE THAT I'M A BRAINWASHER ALREADY?!"_

* * *

**AN: End chapter seven.**

**tl;dr, anyone? 8D I had to show how Tahu copes - in his own way, of course. By sulking...and being an arse...and flying off the handle at his best friend because he's a dork and reassigns his anger to all the wrong places. Although he has reason to be mad - If MY younger sibling had a crush on my best friend, I would be pretty steamed too. Just not to that level.**

**Also, I put this more in a "specific events" style-ish thing because the story seems to be going too...fast otherwise. Er...sort of. No, that's not it...uh...detail! There we go, I want to show more detail, which a specific scene can work with. Show, don****'t tell, and all that crap?**** And because the thought of Kopaka with telepathy is AWESOME 8D**

**Once again, all phone numbers were created by closing my eyes and randomly pushing buttons on my own phone. It was ALSO fun choosing their ring tones. In order of appearance (in this chapter), their ring tones are ****"Dude (Looks Like a Lady)****"**** -Aerosmith, ****"Move****"**** -Thousand Foot Krutch, and ****"Let It Go****"**** -Brit & Alex.  
**

**Review, please!**


	8. Gotta Be Somebody

**Sorry for not posting in forever. Class has started up, and already psychology and English have taken over my life. Phwa.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

It should be understood first that my dad was...well, somewhat odd. OK, more than just somewhat odd. How he hadn't gotten fired from his job yet was anyone's guess. He worked for the same laboratory-sciency-whatever company that Kopaka's dad worked for, but unlike Terios, dealt with the business aspect of it instead of the scientific aspect.

Although he claimed it was boring enough to kill someone. So, to make up for that, he entertained himself by doing such things as installing a couple Slip n' Slides in the stairwell, freezing them, and tobogganing down. Or trying to, anyway. This resulted in him crashing headlong into Terios at the second floor mark and breaking said astronomer's leg. And he ended up paying for the medical bills, being responsible for the injury in the first place and all. Our families actually met when my mom and I came to the hospital to make sure my dad was OK, and that's where I first met Kopaka. Thus the start of a beautiful friendship!

Um, sort of. I was four and he had literally just turned three, and he was pretty rude for a toddler. That encounter ended in us rolling around and wrestling over his stuffed bat toy-thing while my mom tried to separate us and Aruna just chattered away about how well we were getting along. Despite the fact that I'd nearly mauled her son to death and vice versa, we still ended up getting set up for a great deal of play days after that, and somewhere along the way we learned to put up with each other and somehow became best friends. It was a weird relationship, yes.

Anyway, my dad had been coaching me literally all year about girls. According to him, it was high time I got myself another girlfriend, and to put it frankly, I didn't trust him one bit. I was pretty sure picking a girl a bunch of dandelions as a gift and giving them to her wasn't about to go over well, although he insisted that was how he'd won my mom's heart (suspiciously, Mom refused to comment on it).

For my part, I ignored him. I was convinced that I wasn't ready for another relationship just yet, and no amount of coaxing was about to change my mind.

* * *

"You're being a prude."

"I'm not being a prude."

"Yes you are. When was the last time you kissed a girl?"

"..."

"HA! See, it's been so long that you're ashamed to admit it! Score one for Dad!"

"...are you sure you aren't an alien?"

"Your grandmother used to tell me she was fairly certain the doctors might have switched her real baby with a zoo animal when I was born. And who knows, maybe I really AM a camel or a tiger in a human's body..."

"More like a chimp, Dad."

"Chimp, tiger, same difference. Anyway...I forgot what we were talking about. What was it again?"

"Just...never mind, Dad. I have to go do my homework now. ...Dad? What's wrong?"

"...say that again?"

"...I have to go do my homework now?"

"NINA! YOUR SON HAS DEVELOPED RESPONSIBILITY! GET OUT THE SCRAPBOOKS!"

"Oh my God...you really ARE an alien. Tch, I'm outta here."

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, right back up to my room.

* * *

A week later, on a Saturday, Gali arrived at my doorstep, crying and miserable. I hadn't seen her like this since the day of my elementary school culmination, when she'd gotten rejected by Kopaka.

Instead of asking her just what the hell she was doing at my house, I grabbed her by the arm, dragged her inside, and led her up to my room. As I went, I heard a cheer coming from my dad in the living room, and winced inside. My dad had come to the conclusion that my last girlfriend had been so terrible that the relationship had turned me off the idea of relationships in general, and I'm sure he was just THRILLED to find out that it was not so. Bastard. His tarantula was still around, by the way. How that thing survived for so long is a total mystery to me, but yes, Dirty Sanchez was still alive and kicking.

When we got up to my room, I shoved Gali onto my bed, where she flopped and buried her face in my pillow, while I went to the bathroom down the hall for some tissues. When I came back, she was sitting up and still sobbing, but at least now she was trying to control herself a little bit.

I sat down beside her and just stared at her after handing her the tissues. For a moment, neither of us spoke.

"Th...thanks," she muttered, wiping at her eyes.

I smiled. "Sure. Mind telling me what the problem is?"

In truth, this was a pretty weird situation for me to be in. Gali didn't cry. I hadn't seen her cry since fifth grade culmination day. Gali and crying just didn't mix. Pohatu was more likely to cry than she was.

She sniffled, face crumpling up again, but managed to say, "He dumped me."

At her words, a funny feeling blossomed inside of me. I felt light-headed, and recognized the feeling as joy. Of course, this only made me feel like a total ass. Here one of my best friends was crying because her (complete asshole of a) boyfriend had dumped her, and I was HAPPY about it? At that moment, I really felt like the devil boy she had always called me.

"Really now. How'd this happen?"

Gali shook her head, eyes scrunched shut. "I don't know! He kept on skipping out on dates and stuff and then just now called me to tell me that we're through! I don't get it, what'd I do wrong?!"

She was getting desperate again, just the way she'd been the day Kopaka rejected her. _Note to self: if possible keep her from getting desperate again, because comforting desperate females is NOT my specialty._

Instead of panicking like I wanted to, I said, "As far as I can tell, nothing."

When she looked up at me incredulously, I continued, "This kind of shit happens, Gali. You find a nice guy, go out with him for a while, and then find out he's a total bastard. So you dump his ass and don't regret it."

"But...HE dumped ME..." she said, and I rolled my eyes and covered her mouth with my hand.

"Not important. Thing is, you're better off without that moron, anyway. I didn't like him." Indeed, I hadn't. Not one bit. "I never told you why I broke up with Anika, did I?"

She shook her head, now looking interested. "I...wasn't feelin' it anymore with her, and I told her that. She accused me of...well..._yeah_ with you. Which wouldn't happen. Er, not that you're ugly or anything, it's just that..."

Gali surprised me by laughing and punching me lightly in the arm. "I feel like I should be insulted, but go on." So I did.

"Not only that, she said she thought you were screwing around with Pohatu and Kopaka too. First off, you're not that kind of person, and second off, I wasn't about to let anyone, not even my own girlfriend, talk like that about one of my friends. Especially not you. Basically, what she said clued me in to what she was really like, and it made me feel like an idiot for not realizing it sooner." I broke off, because a red flush had come onto her face, and she was biting her lip and glancing at me nervously.

"Er...don't tell me you really WERE--"

"No, moron!" she snapped. "It's just...why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

I shrugged. "It was between me and Anika, and since it wasn't true, there was no reason to confront you and upset you with it. Anyway, that's what happened. If I have my way, and I WILL have my way, the next girl I go out with won't be the type to make stupid accusations like that."

"So...part of the reason you broke up with her was because of what she said about me?"

"Well, I was already trying to do it anyway, but yeah, it speeded up the process a bit--"

I stopped talking all of a sudden, as Gali was smiling at me. No, smiling is too weak a word to describe what she was doing. What was that expression my mom used sometimes? Beaming? Yeah, beaming. But even THAT didn't seem to match up to the smile on her face right then. "Er...is something amusing you?"

"Nope!" she chirped. There were no signs of tears on her face anymore, except for the fact that her yellow eyes were a little red-rimmed. She now looked just...completely and totally elated. Seeing her so happy made me happy as well.

"Um, OK, but you're seriously starting to freak me out, Gali."

"You know, devil boy, I sometimes marvel at how sweet you can be one minute, and then clueless the next." she said, and I knew she really WAS feeling better. She called me "devil boy" when she felt like teasing me. Not that I minded it as much as I used to. If anything, I now took it as a compliment.

I smirked. "I'm a guy, what more could you expect?"

The laugh she gave made the cloudy day seem a little bit brighter.

* * *

"I still stand by my previous statement."

"What?"

"You had a girl here, crying and ALL OVER YOU, and you did NOTHING. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not even a pick-up line!"

He's probably the only father in the world who would be ENCOURAGING his son to go "have fun" with girls. Not lecturing said son about being careful. Well, he DID lecture me about that kind of stuff, but seriously.

"What did you EXPECT me to do?! She was miserable, I can't just go hit on her when she's crying her eyes out over that douche boyfriend of hers dumping her!"

"No, but see, THIS is where you start formulating plans for revenge on that ex of hers for breaking her heart! And then once he's properly beaten up, you shake his hand and thank him for letting her go so you can safely make your move!"

"Dad, you REALLY have to stop letting Mom talk you into watching the Lifetime Movie Network with her."

"Tch, no way, man. That shit's hilarious; it's practically the Men-Are-Jerks Channel anyway. I don't get half the crap people on reality TV do, but it's damn FUNNY. You should try it sometime, maybe you wouldn't be so angry all the time!"

"Um, no."

"Oh right, I forgot the reason you were so mad was because Gali was going out with that boy you hate so much. I was going to make you a dartboard with his face on it, but I couldn't find any pictures, and your mom confiscated the darts."

"...that's...thoughtful of you...uh...thanks?"

"Any time! I can still make it if you want, but you'll have to get your own darts!"

"No, I think I'm alright, Dad. But thanks anyway."

I had the weirdest dad in the world. But oddly enough, that didn't seem so bad right then. He was the only dad in the world who won over the love of his life by giving her a handful of dandelions (roots still attached), met his future best family friend by slamming into him on a toboggan on a frozen Slip n' Slide in a business office stairwell, named a tarantula something like "Dirty Sanchez", told his son to "get busy" with the girls, and who cheered the aforementioned son up by offering to make a dartboard with someone's face on it.

And I liked him just the way he was. As weird as that may sound.

* * *

To: PyroMANIAC721

From: Tsunami-chan

Subject: (no subject)

Thanks for letting me cry all over you today. And uh...sorry if I traumatized you a little bit with that. I know boys generally aren't very good at comforting people.

Especially not crying girls.

But yes, thank you. I'm eternally grateful and all that other garbage.

--Gali

PS: You're awesome, by the way.

* * *

To: Tsunami-chan

From: PyroMANIAC721

Subject: RE: (no subject)

No problem. Just, uh, don't do it again. You don't know how bad I wanted to cut and run back there. Just stay away from stupid douchebags who want to be your boyfriend and you should be fine!

But if you do, then rest assured that I shall hunt them down and beat the crap out of them. Except I might have to get Kopaka to help me out with that, since my sense of direction is zero.

--Tahu

PS: Of course I am! You're just now figuring this out?

* * *

A week later, Vezok came to school covered in vegetable oil and feathers, only to be sent home in a huff by Teridax to clean up and change.

The culprits were never found. My mom didn't inquire as to why I suddenly needed a new pillow, and Kopaka never did tell his dad where the brand new bottle of vegetable oil in the pantry had gone.

Nor did we tell my dad that this incident did NOT end in a handshake and a thank you for dumping somebody.

* * *

**AN: End chapter eight.**

**Sneaky, Tahu. VERY sneaky. Keep it up and your enemies will be very few and far between.**

**Kudos to my dad for the "Men-Are-Jerks Channel" joke! He kind of has a point, though. Pretty much everything that gets shown on the Lifetime Movie Network features some guy as the asshole-ish villain, and a woman as the oh-so-innocent victim.**

**Review, please!**


	9. King of the Green

**Hey there, it's been a while, huh? Sorry ^^;  
**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

The summer after Gali's breakup, I decided to join the soccer team along with Pohatu. It was hard work getting into it, especially since it was junior varsity. And it sucked. Big time. I couldn't give myself a break, but of course I found myself slacking anyway.

Only the best were accepted, and I was slacking. Partially because of schoolwork, which, as an almost-eleventh grader in summer school, I had a lot of, and partially because training really WAS tiring. Hell, it was exhausting. Each day that summer that Pohatu dragged me out into the field, there was some sort of problem. The biggest one being that I could not aim with my feet. How I managed to do so well when I was younger is indeed a mystery, but I had quit soccer in the fourth grade and focused on basketball instead. So now my aim and coordination were zilch.

After two weeks, Pohatu threw up his hands and said that he couldn't take this crap anymore. Well gee thanks, Pohatu, how do you think _I_ feel?!

We had a bit of a fight about it, and both went home fairly pissed off. Me in particular, since Pohatu can't stay mad at someone for longer than an hour.

I had thought this meant he was giving up trying to teach me. But no. He wasn't giving up, at least not necessarily.

No, he sent his girlfriend in to teach me how to properly play soccer.

And Reha was a hard-ass. She didn't take crap from ANYONE, much less me. Sure, she had stopped getting into trouble at school for punching bullies out, but had lost none of her edge. Still a kick-boxing champion whose only loss in the last three or so years was to Pohatu. Still a black-belt in karate. Still bloody terrifying to most people with common sense.

"OK, flame-boy," she said, the soccer ball held under her arm. "We gotta get you to learn this crap if you want to join the team."

"Really? I had no idea!"

The ball hit me in the forehead a moment later. "I don't need your snark, jackass!" she snapped, stooping to pick it back up as I felt my bruised head gingerly. "Pohatu asked me to help you out since you've been driving him insane, so that's what I'm gonna do. Got it?"

"Got it." I muttered, and she grinned.

"Alright then, let's get to work."

Unlike what I had expected, Reha wasn't exactly teaching me to play soccer. No, she was re-teaching me how to run and kick without straining muscles, while aiming perfectly, and without tripping over my own feet in the process. It was tough work. The fact that I was going through a growth spurt wasn't helping, and I was a lot clumsier than before due to that growth spurt. The size of my feet didn't help matters much either, it had to be admitted.

Still, Reha persisted. She made me get back up off the grass each time I tripped, berated me a bit, then kicked the ball at me again and told me to get a move on.

And gradually, I learned.

Somehow. I swear, she was some sort of superwoman or something. Or maybe just persistent. Which is pretty much the same thing as being super.

I also spent a lot of time getting smacked by her during these training sessions each day after I was done with summer school. We met at 2 in the park, being that class got out at 1, and I was almost always late. She smacked me for that, but what she REALLY hit me for was staring at her. Or for making comments.

"I know you're not interested in me that way," she said, standing over me while I held my bleeding nose from where she'd punched me, the first time it happened, "so stop staring at my ass and get a move on. We've got better things to do than sit around."

Really though, it was difficult. Reha was a good-looking girl. Lean and tough from all the exercise, decent body, pretty face, lively violet eyes, what wasn't there to stare at? Except for the fact that she was taken by one of my best friends, of course...

("I swear to God, I'm gonna eat your children for this."

"Yeah, yeah, get back up and get going.")

But she had a point. I WASN'T interested in her that way, which was annoying when I realized that I was still staring despite that fact. Then again, I'm a guy. Staring at girls is what guys - especially guys in my age group - did. The amount of time I spent staring at certain magazines that I had stolen from my dad was slightly incredible.

Once, I tripped over the ball and pitched headfirst into her, knocking her over. And like we were in a bad sitcom, when we landed, guess where my face was?

She gave me a black eye for that one, and I was walking around with it for the next week or so.

("I was trying to get a better look at how you were, uh, moving!"

"Like hell you were! Get back here and let me punch you!"

"OW! JESUS, MY ARM'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BEND LIKE THAT, YOU SAID YOU WERE GONNA _PUNCH_ ME, NOT TURN ME INTO A FRIGGIN' PRETZEL!")

I suppose I was just lucky that she apparently never told Pohatu about any of this, because I swear, that guy could get jealous as all hell. Sure he was fine with me being alone with her for hours each day and didn't mind if she had guy friends or hugged any of them in front of him, but one hint of a false move and the offender was toast. If word got out to him that I was staring at her, no matter how unconsciously it was done, or that I had - completely on ACCIDENT - copped a feel on her, then I was dead.

I'll never forget the day some ninth grader slapped her ass. It had only happened a year prior, and the guy in question was in Reha's first period class (she was a ninth grader at the time too, which surprised me since I had always thought she was my age - guess not). As she stood outside her classroom and talking to Pohatu and me, waiting for the bell to ring, the guy walked past her and SMACK! Slapped her ass.

Well, I didn't exactly get to see what happened to him, as I hadn't even really been paying attention (I was busy arguing with the zipper of my backpack and didn't look up until people started chanting, "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" over and over again), but when I DID look up, Reha was hanging onto the doorway and screaming into the room at someone to stop punching someone else - Pohatu and the Great Offender. He'd actually TACKLED the guy straight into the room and started punching him. Jesus, where was the nice guy I'd grown up with?!

I tackled Pohatu off his new punching bag, and then the teacher arrived, and things went downhill from there. It just HAD to be Roodaka, didn't it? The most hard-assed staff member we had (and the sexiest and most sinister, but let's not get into that) besides Teridax and maybe Antroz. We all ended up getting suspended AGAIN, even though all _I_ had done was make Pohatu stop punching that poor idiot!

After that, I vowed never to get in the way of either Pohatu or Reha when they're in Jealous Rage Mode. Ever. Again. I was just lucky my parents believed me about it all, otherwise I would've been in deep shit.

("Will you stop tripping and start taking this seriously already?!"

"I dunno if you've noticed, Rave, but my feet aren't exactly pixie-sized over here. Sorry we can't all be ninjas like you. Ow, what was THAT for?!"

"For being a jackass. Duh. Now think fast!")

Anyway, yeah, I was lucky that Pohatu never found out. And even MORE lucky that Reha decided to go easy on me for staring at her. Apparently being friends with her allowed for a slightly easier sentence!

"Alright, flame-boy," she said on Saturday of the last week before school was going to restart - what was it with girls and calling me weird names?! - "we gotta start getting serious. If you want to make that team, you'll have to really buck up here."

I gave her a confused look. "Um, isn't that what I've been doing this entire summer, Ms. Slave Driver?"

"Yup, and you've improved." Coming from Reha, that was a real compliment. "But you can't slack off. Those guys don't fuck around, man, they'll eat you alive if you go in there all cocky and confident. 'Specially if you don't make it in. They will MESS YOU UP."

Funny, since I thought our school was all about NOT having gangs and all that crap! Guess not. Must get word of this to Teridax...somehow...if he knows it's me doing the tattling, he won't do anything as some form of twisted revenge against me for setting his tie on fire that one time. Whatever, man, that tie was ugly as hell. It had to go, STAT.

"Gee, thanks for the confidence, Rave."

"I'm serious." She stared me straight in the eye, and I saw immediately that she was indeed. "Ordinarily I wouldn't care, but eff you, you've gone and made friends with me. I hate you."

So now caring about people is a bad thing? Then again, Reha didn't exactly have the greatest home life. Rumor had it that the reason she'd taken up kick-boxing and karate was to protect herself from her rather violent older siblings. They never hurt her TOO badly, but from what I'd heard, they enjoyed wrestling and the like just a LITTLE too much, and it usually resulted in injuries for all four kids. I suppose when the people who are SUPPOSED to care for you turn on you to that extent, not caring about anyone must look pretty good. But nonetheless, I was flattered that I'd managed to win a place in her heart despite that.

And...hell, who was she kidding, she had a ton of friends besides me. The girl just didn't want to admit that she had a couple of soft spots.

"I'm flattered, seriously."

"Oh shut up." She rolled her eyes, but was smiling. "You and that boyfriend of mine both. I don't know how the hell you guys did it."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "It's called 'human nature', genius. People will naturally care for other people that are nice to them."

"Yeah, yeah," she tossed the ball to me, and smiled wider when I managed to successfully dribble it with my feet. "Let's get back to work. And no staring anymore; you keep that up and you'll have more than just a couple smacks to worry about."

That I didn't doubt. If I kept it up, I'd have Pohatu on me about it, and that was NOT something I wanted to deal with.

So for the rest of the day, and all the days after that, I kept my eyes fixed firmly on either her face, her feet, or the ball. Reha declared me a success the day before school started, and scheduled more training days for every weekend after that, "just to keep me in shape".

My friends were insane. Did I mention that?

* * *

I'm sure you can imagine my and Pohatu's distress when, on the day of tryouts, Lewa decided to show up. And announced that he, too, was going to be trying out.

Dear GOD, no. It would be more of a circus and less of a soccer tryout should Lewa be allowed to participate. Due to the ever-growing list of rules, he hadn't been seen walking on top of a giant inflatable ball or a unicycle since at least the year before (at least not during school hours, after class was a different matter), but that was inconsequential.

The thing was: Lewa was a virtual hazard to himself and everyone else around him.

Just the day before, Pohatu, Onua, and I had had to figure out a way to get him down from the top of the flagpole where he'd gotten himself tangled in the rope SOMEHOW, and before Teridax or any of the other teachers decided to check on what the hell was making so much noise. We got him down just as Norik came out, but it was still a job explaining to our rather eccentric math teacher just WHY Lewa was missing his pants.

("Why no, sir, those pants hanging from the top of the flagpole are most CERTAINLY not Lewa's. That's crazy talk!")

So it wasn't without reason that Pohatu and I exchanged glances, both grimacing. And when I turned to look up at the bleachers at the kids who had turned out to watch the tryouts, I saw Reha, mouth wide open with horror and eyes fixed on Lewa's usual cheerful self (not that I blamed her; if Lewa screwed this up, all her hard work training me was going straight down the drain). Sitting next to her was Gali, who looked normal. No distress from her. Huh, wish I shared her optimism. On her other side was Kopaka, who looked just as horrified as Reha.

Well, this was sure to be interesting, at the very least.

Pohatu was the first to be called up to demonstrate what he could do against the varsity kids, who were helping the coach, a loud and slightly nutty guy named Bitil who was rumored to be suffering from short memory loss (too many soccer balls to the head?), to conduct the tryouts. Not surprisingly, he did amazingly, beating out the guy who came after him with a few well-placed kicks and some fancy footwork. Yeah, well, that was a given. There was no WAY Pohatu wouldn't make the team. He'd been the star of pretty much every soccer team he'd ever been on.

Things were progressing as normal. I was called out - FINALLY! - and got paired up with this big, mean-looking guy with green hair and red eyes, who I gathered from Bitil's yelling was named Zaktan. Just looking at him made me want to turn and run for my life, especially when he grinned at me. Good GOD, the guy looked like a mad dog when he did that!

I might have run except for the fact that there were over fifty people watching, and it would NEVER be said that I, Tahu, was a coward. Besides, what could he do? It was just a soccer tryout.

Of course, I found out soon enough what he could do.

His foot hit mine as soon as I moved to dribble the ball, sending me almost heels over head. Somehow, I managed to land on my feet, but already Zaktan was practically flying down the field with the ball in front of him. Bitil yelled something, and I chased after him, dirt flying everywhere from my cleats.

Well THIS sucked! Not even thirty seconds into my turn, and already I was being humiliated!

"RUN, TAHU, RUN!" Pohatu shouted in an imitation of that little girl from _Forrest Gump_ (one hell of a weird movie).

"If you fail, flame-boy, I'll kick your ass!" Reha shrieked, drowning him out.

She in turn was drowned out by Kopaka's loud, shrill whistle, which was, in short, his way of telling me to _get a goddamn move on_. Well, it was better not to disappoint him, not to mention...

"YOU CAN DO IT!" Gali screamed right then. I chanced a glance back over my shoulder, and there she was, standing up on the bleachers with Reha's arms wrapped around her legs to make sure she didn't fall, and waving her own arms wildly as she yelled. "GO GET HIM! DOOOOO IIIITTTTTT!!!"

Likewise, it would be a bad idea not to disappoint the pretty girl who was cheering me on in the bleachers.

To my surprise and relief, Reha's training had paid off, and I was much faster and better coordinated than I had been before. But then there was the problem - Bitil had told us at the beginning that he only accepted the best who were willing to make sacrifices for the team and for the win.

Zaktan was nearing the net, and he raised his foot up to give the ball a kick, right into it.

Sacrifices, right. What better thing to sacrifice for than my pride?

_THUD!_

There was silence.

I couldn't really blame them. After all, I HAD just taken a flying leap in front of Zaktan right as he kicked the ball. And where else could the ball go but straight into my gut with a maneuver like that?

Two seconds later found me curled up in a ball on the grass while Zaktan gaped and the soccer ball rolled nonchalantly off to the side.

_Sweet Jesus, there go my children..._

_...  
_

_...am I dead...?_

"Tahu, you alright?" I heard from above me, and took my head out from my knees to meet a pair of orange eyes. It felt strangely stifling all of a sudden... "Hey man, are you dead?"

I did not know this person, although he strongly resembled Pohatu for some reason. What was HE doing in heaven? He wasn't the one who'd just gotten smacked in the gut with a soccer ball! "Are you God?" I blurted out.

The person who looked like Pohatu laughed. "Nah, but I'm pretty close to it," he said, but whatever he was going to say after that was cut off because something small and blue had just latched onto me, depriving me of what little air I had left after being smacked in the gut with the soccer ball.

"Tahu!" this blue thing cried, and I realized that it was Gali. Strange, what was Gali doing in heaven? Was she dead too?

"What are YOU doing here?!"

She blinked. "What?"

There was no halo. Odd. "I'm dead, aren't I? What, this isn't heaven?"

I heard someone who sounded suspiciously like Kopaka give a snort from somewhere to the left. "More like hell on Earth."

Alright, that did it. This wasn't heaven. There was no WAY Kopaka would have ever made it into heaven.

Wait a minute, I was alive?!

Slowly, I uncurled, grimacing at the pain in my stomach. God, it felt like something had been broken...one of my ribs, maybe?

"You shouldn't move, Fuego," Bitil said, squatting down beside me. "Looks like you're gonna have one hell of a bruise. Nice shot, Zaktan, you nearly killed 'im!"

"He's the one who jumped in front of the ball!" Zaktan huffed, and I thanked God I couldn't see his face at the moment.

Once everyone learned that I was alright except for my sore gut, I was hauled off to the bleachers to wait with Pohatu, Reha, Gali, and Kopaka. The only ones still left to try out were Lewa and a few other kids the name of which I didn't know.

Some wiry kid went next, got his ass kicked, and went running off the field with his head in his hands.

It was Lewa's turn.

And that's where everything started to go wrong.

Once again, it was Zaktan who was sent to test him out. Somehow, Lewa didn't seem to be intimidated in the least, which was nothing short of amazing. Lewa was a skinny, speedy little bird of a boy. If Zaktan had so much as SAT on him, he'd be gone. Squashed FLAT.

Before Bitil gave the word for them to go, Lewa raised his head and whooped at us, waving wildly. We waved back, and Bitil shouted for silence, then yelled at them to get going and show him what they had for him.

Zaktan lunged for the ball.

Except...it suddenly wasn't there anymore, and neither was Lewa. No, that little bird of a boy had kicked the ball straight over Zaktan's head, and then catapulted HIMSELF along after it. Already he was nothing more than a green streak running down the field with the black and white ball in front of him and yelling like a wild person.

It took Zaktan exactly half a second to get up and chase after him, followed by three more guys at Bitil's order. At this, Gali and Kopaka had to restrain me from leaping up and shouting at the coach. FOUR guys against the Circus Freak?! They'd kill him! Kill him dead! There wouldn't be enough of him left to put in a matchbox!

One of them was getting close to Lewa, and jumped at him, only for Lewa to hop over him and causing him to hit the ground and skid along a couple feet. And then, before he got to the goal, that Circus Freak of ours actually did an about-face and started _running in the opposite direction, straight back towards Zaktan and the other two guys._

"YOU'RE GONNA GET KILLED!" I shouted.

"Oh man, I can't watch," Reha muttered, putting her face in her hands. I had to agree, except that it was sort of like a train wreck - it was horrible, but you couldn't help but watch anyway. Sure enough, two seconds later she was peeking through her fingers at the spectacle before us.

Meanwhile, Gali had an iron grip on my arm that was KIND OF cutting off the circulation, but there were more important things to think about right then. Kopaka was outright glaring, which I had expected.

Pohatu, on the other hand, was practically busting a gut laughing. Even when all four of us turned to glare at him, he didn't stop. How could he laugh when Lewa was about to get pulverized?! "KEEP RUNNING, CIRCUS FREAK, SHOW 'EM WHO'S KING OF THE GREEN!" he shouted, and to my surprise, Lewa actually SALUTED him, shouting back in a sing-song voice, "WATCH OUT, HERE I COME!"

_Oh God, PLEASE tell me he's not singing that "You Spin Me Round" song..._

Everybody else in the general vicinity seemed to share Pohatu's sentiments, and shouts of "GO GO GO!" and "YOU CAN DO IT!" filled the air. Even I had to admit, it WAS kind of funny. Lewa was really making a fool of those guys, weaving in and out of between them and going back and forth from net to net.

By now, the ball was long forgotten. As of that moment, it was still in Lewa's possession, but anyone with eyes could tell that Zaktan and his three compatriots had anything BUT that ball on their minds. Man, those guys were PISSED. When this was all over, I would have to see about getting Lewa a troop of professional bodyguards for his own protection. Not that they would have been able to keep up with him any better than these so-called varsity soccer players, but...

Finally, he seemed to be getting a little tired of just running around and shot straight towards the net, the four guys right behind him. A second later, the ball was hitting the net, and Lewa had hit the deck and sprang out of the way as all four guys dove for him at once. A dogpile commenced a second later, and Bitil's whistle blew before any heads could be broken.

"ALRIGHT!" he shouted over the general din, striding over and yanking Zaktan and some other kid whose name I didn't know out of the dogpile. "That's everybody, so you all get the hell out and I'll have the results posted on the bulletin board outside the main office by Friday. DISMISSED!"

The scene was empty faster than a bullet, except for the four disgraced players. Who all looked as though they wanted nothing more than bloody revenge.

...

Forget explaining to Norik about the missing pants, keeping Lewa from getting killed was going to be hell.

* * *

To absolutely no one's surprise, Pohatu was named team captain. Really, who ELSE could they have chosen? I've been told I've got great leadership skills, but when it came to soccer, Pohatu was the authority. It made sense that he got captain and forward runner.

To my own slight surprise, I had also gotten in, as second runner. Though, everyone had themselves a good laugh at the note next to my name - _just don't jump in front of a speeding ball again, you're useless unless you're in one piece._ Well, gee, THANKS, Bitil. Nice to know you care so much.

But we were all shocked to discover that, not only had Lewa gotten in, he had made goalie. Yeah. Apparently all those acrobatics of his weren't runner material (somehow) and better suited for goalie. I suppose it kind of made sense - if the ball came in from too far away for a NORMAL person to block, Lewa would find someway to do it. Still, I (and everyone else, for that matter) was of the opinion that he would have made a great runner.

And OK, so maybe Bitil wanted to keep him from pissing off any more big, mean guys like he had done at tryouts. That might have been a factor in there as well.

The season was set to start the next week, though, and all this was forgotten in preparations for it. Uniforms to be bought, broken in, and practiced with. Games to be scheduled. Students to get yelled at by the coach for complaining about not getting in. Good stuff.

The highlight of that week, though, was Reha dragging Pohatu with her to confront me outside of my fourth period class and announcing that since I had gotten in, she no longer needed to train me on the weekends.

"Thank GOD!" I muttered, rubbing my forehead where she had hit me with the ball so many months ago on our first training day. "You plus regular practice might've killed me!"

Reha glared as Pohatu laughed, arm around her shoulder. "Nice one, though, man," he grinned. "Interestin' way of blocking Zaktan like that too. I'm surprised you didn't get goalie with moves like that."

I groaned. "I would've gotten killed! Bitil would've expected that outta me every game!"

He laughed again. "Yeah, probably."

Still, life was good. I'd accomplished my goal, and I'd gotten a good position on the team to boot. Not only that, but my heroics seemed to have impressed Bitil, who pulled me aside after the first official practice to inform me that he expected to see more sacrifice like that on the actual field when we challenged our first opponents.

Oh God. My poor gut wouldn't survive.

Maybe joining this team wasn't the greatest idea after all...

"Let this be a lesson to you." Kopaka said. "The next time you want to go and show off for the crowd, _don't_."

* * *

**AN: ...it's been too long...**

**Um, yeah. A chapter mostly focusing on Tahu, because not EVERYTHING in his life has to do with Gali XD Though, she IS important to him. But he's gotta have some "me time", you know?**

**Anyway, the tryout scene was fun. Lewa had better watch himself from here on out though. I don't think I'd be brave enough to do all the stuff that he did, even if I was capable of it XD**

**Review, please!**


	10. Natural Selection

**Hey all, welcome the first **_**Firecracker**_** update of the new year! God, April 2010 already? I remember 2000's coming like it was yesterday. And now I sound senile, so I'm just gonna stop and let you all get to reading, OK?**

**AND! Lhikan and Shruikan are NOT related in this universe like in all the others that I write in. Just to let you know.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

There was a bit of a problem one day after soccer practice when I came home to see that my dad was already home as well. This was an oddity in itself, as my dad usually arrived home around 5 at the earliest. What was he doing here at 4:30? Was traffic just nonexistent that day or something?

"Dad, why're you home so early? What's going on?"

He snorted. "What, no 'oh hello, dear father, so good to see you home!' from you?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. Now tell me what's going on."

Dad chuckled nervously, eyes flicking to my mom, who was watching him with a look that could only be described as utter consternation. Never a good sign. "Well," he began, "there's a problem going on at work, Tahu. See, I decided to play a joke, and...well...it didn't go over quite as well as I'd hoped it would."

Which meant he was in serious trouble. Even more than he'd gotten in for the toboggan incident.

What the hell could be worse than tobogganing down a bunch of frozen Slip N' Slides in the office stairwell?

The answer: faking your own death with a bottle of ketchup and a plastic fork right as the office is being inspected by the boss.

Of all times for him to get caught by someone with actual authority...

I gaped. "So...are you getting fired?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I was told to go home and wait for the call. Till then, looks like I'll just be here."

God.

"Dad."

"What?"

"You are an idiot."

"And you get that same trait from me, so I guess we're even, right?"

_...touché._

"Oh, _Shruikan!_" my mom snapped, and I quietly edged out the door as they geared up for their first argument in ages.

* * *

"Wow." Pohatu whistled the next day at soccer practice when I told him the story. "So your dad might get fired? Man, that's nuts. It was just a little prank! Lewa and I pull them all the time, and no one gets THAT butthurt about those!"

I rolled my eyes. "Pohatu, the worst you guys have done was explode a few dozen mystery meat sandwiches in the cafeteria. All that really happened there was the cheerleaders' outfits getting ruined. My dad made it out like he had better things to do than work on the company's accounts, which he has told me several times require around-the-clock watching. Plus, he's fighting with Mom. They NEVER do that. Like, ever."

"All married couples fight, though." he said. "It was bound to happen SOONER or later, right?"

I grunted. "I guess."

We sat in silence for a minute, awaiting our turn to go out on the field and practice. Luckily, though, it looked like Bitil had had enough of torturing us for one week, as we weren't sent in even once. Thank God. He seemed to be under the impression that I would be willing to sacrifice my intestines every time a ball came flying in my general direction, and I was getting sick of his constant yelled, "FUEGO, _GET THE DAMN BALL!!!!!_"

Then again, Pohatu kind of had a point. The boss at my dad's work was a prick. A huge one, to be honest. Strictness was this woman's middle name. Once, on a school holiday, my mom had sent me over on my bike to deliver something to my dad at work, and when I arrived, the boss was walking up and down the accounting section and shouting, "I said faster, you morons! God, I should demote you all to janitors and then have you build more facilities so we have an excuse to have more damn janitors!"

What a nice lady.

Of course, not that my dad would mind being a janitor at this point if it meant he had a job. While we weren't necessarily poor, money was an important aspect right now, as my parents were busy deciding which college they would bribe me to go to in a couple years' time.

"If he absolutely has to get another job, then he should get one as a prison guard." Pohatu declared suddenly. "Those guys make like 90,000 a year!"

"My dad would be the worst prison guard ever. He'd sit there telling jokes to all the inmates and sneak them Happy Meals every Tuesday or something."

"Sheesh, it was just a suggestion."

* * *

That night during dinner, the phone rang, and as usual, no one in the room bothered to get it. Finally, grumbling, I got up and went over to answer it.

"Yeah, what?"

"_Tahu, how nice to speak to you as well."_

I froze. _Oh, CRAP._ "Um, uh, _hi_, Mr. Kyrie, how are you?"

Kopaka's dad replied in his usual polite, formal way. _"Just fine, thank you. May I speak to your father for a moment?"_

At that moment, my dad was making slashing motions across his throat so I said, "Um, well, he's kinda busy right now..."

"_Goofing off or playing with that giant arachnid of his, no doubt,"_ Terios replied. _"Please put him on. It is important."_

I covered the mouthpiece. "He says it's important, Dad. You'd better take the call." Or Terios would make his life hell. If there was one thing Kopaka's dad hated, it was being ignored. Come to think of it, this was probably why Kopaka himself was always so attentive towards his parents.

It's funny what you can learn about people through their parents.

Rolling his eyes, my dad reached for the phone, and I handed it to him. As soon as it was in his hand, he put it on speaker and set it down so he could continue eating unhindered.

"Yeah, what?"

"_You and your son have an astoundingly similar way of greeting people on the phone,"_ Terios said dryly. _"I only hope your daughter is politer."_

I snorted under my breath. "Not likely."

A second later I was clutching my aching shin and glaring at Taryen, who'd just kicked me under the table. "Hush," Mom whispered, staring at Dad.

"Not likely," Dad echoed my previous statement. "She's just as bad as me sometimes." A smile spread across his face. "So, what can I do for ya, Ter? Fix something? Keep you from boring your wife to death again?"

"_YOU are the one in need of fixing, not me,"_ Terios huffed. _"And Aruna is perfectly fine, thank you. No, I called because I believe I have found a way for you to convince Helryx to let you keep your job."_

Immediately, Dad bolted upright in his seat. "You do?! What is it?"

"_A few ways, actually. One, get on your knees and grovel. Two, come back to work and act like you actually care about your job for once. And three, send one of your children to beg for you. Who knows, Helryx might take a shine to them. She did with Kopaka, even has a job saved for him once he's out of college."_

To be honest, this was only because Kopaka had once written a report about the company for some school project we had had to do, and Terios was proud enough of it to hang it (and the shiny red A plus written on the front page) on the wall of his office, and Helryx had just happened to come along just as he was pinning it up. Apparently a little flattery can go a long way with dominatrixes like her, because the next thing we all knew, Kopaka was getting a call on his cell phone in the middle of band practice from her, telling him she would be willing to take him on as an employee in the future. And opportunity-grabbing bastard that he is, he accepted.

"Will that really work?" my dad asked thoughtfully.

Terios sighed. _"Shruikan, I was only joking about that last thing. Of course you shouldn't send your kids to beg for you; it will only anger Helryx even more."_

But too late, the idea was out there, and everyone who knew my dad knew that he couldn't resist a crazy idea. And he'd have to be crazy to pit me or Taryen against Helryx, head honcho of Karda Astronomy Facility (original name, huh?). No, that encounter would end up in mine and/or Taryen's blood spattered on the walls of KAF's hallways.

"_I just doomed your children, didn't I, Nina?"_ Terios asked next.

"Don't worry about it," Mom sighed. "It won't be the first time they've faced certain doom, I'm sure."

Let's see, Norik and the flag pole, Teridax on the first day of school each year, the Anika vs. Gali incident, Roodaka on a daily basis, having a giant spider as a pet, and Bitil's tryouts...yeah, plenty of times I could have died but didn't. This would be cake.

Except that Helryx honestly terrified the crap out of me. The woman was a freaking _dragon_; piss her off and you would be better off just digging your own grave right there and lying in it.

"Mom, do I have to face the Dragon Lady?"

"Don't call her that, Taryen, and no."

Well THAT was a relief...at least we wouldn't be short one midget any time soon.

"Your brother will."

"WHAT?!"

Thank you for sending me to my doom, Mother!

"He will?"

"Yes, Shruikan, he will." Mom said, after saying goodbye to Terios and sarcastically thanking him for the "help". "If you insist on sending one of them in to grovel for you, we should at least send the one who's fast on his feet."

I think you just indirectly called me a coward, but thanks nonetheless.

"Well..." Dad hesitated.

Please, Dad, be a man for once and offer yourself up in my place! If you do, I promise I'll mow the lawn when I'm supposed to and I won't ever call you an idiot ever again!

"Alright, fine. But if he dies, it'll be your fault."

"No, it will be YOURS, for putting him in that situation in the first place!"

...I officially HATE YOU BOTH.

Taryen snickered at my face, but before I could open my mouth to yell at her, Dad interrupted me.

"OK, son, here are some pointers for dealing with Helryx..."

* * *

1-564-498-6079

"_And I could tell you his favorite color's green, he love to argue, born on the seventeenth, his sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes...and if you asked me if I loved him, I'd lie--"_

***click***

"_Heya, you've reached Gali's voicemail; sorry I can't take your call right now. But leave me a message and I'll call you back! Promise!"_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First new message..."_

***beep***

"_Um, Gali, I just want to tell you that I am about to die and that in my will I am leaving you everything in the box marked "STUFF" in the back of my closet. OK? So um yeah, it was nice knowing you and stuff. Yeahloveyoubye!"_

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it--"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have five new messages. First new message..."_

***beep***

"_Tahu...WHAT?! Dying?! OK, devil-boy, you had BETTER just be acting all melodramatic again, because this isn't funny! Um...so, what happened? Is this about your dad's job or something? Call me back asap!_

_...and...what was that last part? Stop talking so fast, I can never understand you!"_

***beep***

"_Hey Tahu-friend, I heard you're gonna die! If you die, can I have your tarantula? And can I be the priest at your funeral?"_

***beep***

"_DUDE! You're dying? The hell's going on with this, man? You can't die, we still have games to win and stuff! Who's gonna sacrifice their organs for Bitil's sake when you're not around, huh? Cuz I sure as hell am not gonna do it."_

***beep***

"_...you are so melodramatic, Tahu...you know, I might have considered helping you if you hadn't taken my history book last week, so consider this your punishment. Sorry!"_

***beep***

"_You're not going to die, moron, so stop freaking everybody out with that crap. If you want, I'll go with you to meet Helryx and save your ass. Again. Oh yeah, and you still owe me a bowl of ice cream for beating you at hangman yesterday."_

* * *

1-564-498-6079

"_And I could tell you his favorite color's green, he love to argue, born on the seventeenth, his sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes...and if you asked me if I loved him, I'd lie--"_

***click***

"_Heya, you've reached Gali's voicemail; sorry I can't take your call right now. But leave me a message and I'll call you back! Promise!"_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First new message..."_

***beep***

"_OK, so maybe I'm not REALLY dying, but I'm gonna come pretty damn close. And yeah, this has to do with my dad's job problem - he wants me to go beg the Dragon Lady to let him keep his job. Can you believe that?! He's gonna sacrifice me, his only son, just so he can keep his job! Um, anyway, can you, like, go with me and stuff? I need a shield..._

_And I said nothing. You must be hearing things again, Gali; should probably get that checked out. I know a couple good shrinks I could refer you to; I've gone to them, after all!"_

* * *

1-564-480-8800

"_Oh yeah, I'm gonna be a big star! I'm gonna lay it on and go HOO-HA! Cuz when the move gets excited, c'mon, when everybody's kung-fu fighting! Everybody was KUNG-FU FIGHTING--"_

***click***

"_IS THIS THING ON? It's on, right? I think it's on...um hi it's Lewa and I'm not here right now...wait, why am I saying I'm not here when I am? What the hell's going on, I hate these cell phone things--"_

***click***

"_You have two new messages. First new message..."_

***beep***

"_...Lewa, dude, you seriously need to change that answering machine of yours. Anyway, up for filming the Tahu vs. Dragon Lady thing with me? There are certain people at school who'll pay big money for that. Anyway, see you at soccer practice tomorrow, later, bye!"_

***beep***

"_Nice to know you care so much about my impending demise, Lewa. Anyway, no, you can NOT have my tarantula, that's my dad's. And isn't your mom arachnophobic? You can be the priest at my funeral, though, sure. Just make sure there's a lot of tears and fuss and stuff, yeah?"_

* * *

**AN: More zany adventures with Tahu and company...he just can't escape, can he? If it's not him, then it's Lewa, and if it's not Lewa, then it's his dad. It's always SOMEBODY.**

**The songs used for ring tones are, respectively, Taylor Swift's "I'd Lie", Thousand Foot Krutch's "Move", and the Bus Stop remix of Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting".**

**Next time will pick up right where this one left off, so please keep an eye out for it!**

**By the way, what would you guys say to seeing some of the Glatorian in here? I've been playing with the idea, and now that the two universes have officially met, it's not so far-fetched anymore. Let me know, kthnx.**

**Review, please! **


	11. Poker Face

**This one was fun to do, although I apologize for the somewhat long hiatus between chapters in all my stories. On top of starting on an actual book, I'm also caught in the drama that is moving into a new house and sort of feuding with my roommate about crap in general.**

**My personal woes aside, here's the next chapter, so please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

Two days after my dad had staged his failed prank, a Saturday, my dad packed me a sack lunch, and after I'd given my will to my mom and told her to open it in the event that I didn't make it back, he drove Gali and me to his office building.

"Now remember!" Dad said as we got out of the car, almost forgetting the sack lunch in the process, "Say it EXACTLY like I told you. Turn on the waterworks if you have to, the whole nine yards. And here," he pulled a folded-up piece of paper and, strangely, a squirtgun out of his coat pockets and handed them to Gali and me respectively, "is your map and your back-up weaponry just in case you're ambushed along the way. If someone named Jerbraz tries to talk to you, for the love of GOD start running and don't stop! Now go get 'em!"

Feeling slightly less sure of myself than I was already feeling, I nodded, and then Gali and I walked up the steps and into the building. As expected, Kopaka was already waiting for us in the lobby, looking bored. He turned his head to look at us and walked over. "Finally, I thought you'd chickened out."

I rolled my eyes. "Bah, no wayyyyy." I chose not to mention that my dad had had to pick the lock to my door and forcibly drag me out that morning to get me into the car.

Despite my words, I began to feel a cold sweat breaking over me as we walked to the elevator and pressed the "up" button. Would we survive? Well, Kopaka would, because he already had a job and whatnot lined up here, and Gali was bound to be spared because she was a girl, but me? No way in hell. I was the son of the idiot who had had nothing better to do than stage his own death during work hours. I'd be lucky if Helryx didn't sentence me to death the minute I walked into her office.

The elevator doors had almost closed when a loud "WAIT WAIT WAIT, ACK, WAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!" filled the air. Running towards us, waving his arms around spastically, was a wild-haired man wearing a business suit. Seeing the frenzied look on his face, I was tempted to push the "close" button, but Gali got to the control console before I did. She hit the "open" button, and the doors slid back out.

The man dashed inside, almost hitting the wall as he skidded to a stop, and leaned over, panting. "Thanks a bunch, li'l lady!" he wheezed, trying to catch his breath. When he straightened, I caught a glance of the name tag on his coat, and the blood drained out of both my and Gali's faces, and even Kopaka looked a little nervous.

_Jerbraz._

"NOOOO!" I howled and dove forward, but too late - the doors were sliding closed, and we were going up. Crap! We were trapped with the very guy my dad had warned us about, and there was nowhere to run to. Well...I guess we could have run in circles in the elevator, but that would be kind of stupid. Not to mention pointless, as the thing was cramped enough that he wouldn't even have to move to catch any of us.

Jerbraz gave me a weird look as I grabbed Gali and shoved her in front of me, wincing when she reached back to smack at me. "Whassamatter, kiddo?" he asked. "Am I really that scary?" He laughed. "I guess I DO cut a rather nice figure, don't I? Yes, yes, quite, I rather do."

He continued to mutter his own praises at no one in particular for a minute, and then turned back to Gali. The look on her face was nothing short of full-blown swoon, I was annoyed to see. So THIS was why my dad had warned us about him, apparently - he was a lady-killer. And we'd already lost Gali, aka my human shield, to his charms.

Bah. I could be charming when I wanted to be!

...and...why the hell did being charming matter to me all of a sudden...

"So, li'l lady, what're you kids doin' here?" Jerbraz asked. "This ain't no babysittin' service, you know."

Gali laughed, high-pitched and nervous. "Ahahahaha, w-we know, sir, but we have to see Ms. Helryx, y'see."

"Goin' to see Mother Helryx?" Jerbraz mused. "Huh. Well, you three've got guts, that's for sure."

For some reason, all of the employees of Karda Astronomy Facility referred to Helryx as "Mother". It had started, unsurprisingly, with my dad, who apparently had had a death wish even back then. The others all just picked up on the fad. From what I had heard, it drove her nuts, but that just spurred most of them on.

Gali blushed dark red. "U-uh - well-"

"But hey!" Jerbraz continued cheerfully, "It's not like she'd eat ya or anything. I don't think so, anyway-"

_Ding!_

The doors opened on the top floor - FINALLY! - and I grabbed Gali's hand and dragged her out, followed by Kopaka. Unfortunately, this also happened to be Jerbraz's stop as well, and he rather (un)helpfully decided to accompany us to Helryx's office at the very end of the hallway. The whole way, he continued jabbering on about how much of a pissy old bat Helryx was, but also how awesome she was at the same time. Bah. Anyone who'd think of firing someone for a stupid prank was so NOT cool.

But, I couldn't help but snort (and neither could Gali and Kopaka) when Jerbraz flung open the doors to Helryx's office and belted out at the top of his lungs, "_Mamaaaaaaa, just killed a man!_"

"_Put my gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's deeaaaadddd..."_ someone else down the hall sang in response.

Apparently my dad wasn't the only one with a death wish.

Judging by the twitching vein in Helryx's temple, I wasn't the only one who was thinking along these lines.

"_Mamaaaaa, life had just begun...and now I've gone and thrown it aaaaaaall awayyyyy-_"

"Jerbraz." Helryx cut into his singing as if with a knife. "If you want to keep your job and your ability to reproduce, you will remove yourself and these children from my office immediately."

He grinned. Meanwhile, I was busy marveling at his nerve. "Sorry, Mother, these kids say it's imperative that they see ya."

"I have no business with children," Helryx snapped. "Take them out of my-"

"Oh, mighty Helryx!" I flung myself face-down at her feet as my dad had instructed me. "Please, oh mighty one, oh _please_ hear a poor boy's plea!"

"_I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves meeeee..._" Jerbraz snickered before being glared into silence.

"Jerbraz. Either you go or your future children do. And you. Who are you? You look familiar." She fixed me with a narrow-eyed stare that honestly made me want to run for my pitiful life.

Yeah, hi, I'm the son of the idiot who staged his own death right in front of you.

"I am but a poor boy come to plead for his poor, insane father," I replied, voice muffled by the fact that I was still facedown on the floor. "Spare him and his job, mighty Helryx, and I will be but your humble servant."

Silence reigned for a minute, broken only by Jerbraz's muffled snickers. Then Helryx spoke again, sounding horrified. "Oh. Oh _God_. You're Shruikan's brat. Well, I'm glad to see that he's man enough to fight his own battles. So tell me, brat, did he try to get your sister to come in here and beg before asking you?"

No, because Taryen is their baby and must be protected. And I at least have a chance of out-running you should you decide to have me offed.

"Alas, no!" I sighed, lifting my head off the floor to look at her. I immediately regretted this at the look on her face and promptly laid back down again. "Taryen is but a little girl and has run away from the task of facing you as little girls will do. I was the only one brave enough to accept the challenge."

Jerbraz now sounded like he was choking on his own oxygen. Gali gave a nervous giggle, and Kopaka just kicked me in the side, making me wheeze.

"It's like this," he said to Helryx, who brightened up considerably when she recognized him. "His dad's an idiot and faked getting stabbed."

"Yes, I know this already." Helryx said. "That's why I'm considering his dismissal."

"But," Kopaka hurried on, "he's really sorry and all that crap. See, he's even sacrificing his only son to you as penitence. Surely that means something to you, right, Ms. Helryx?"

You KISS-UP. That's it, I'm writing you of my will!

"Hmm..." Helryx hummed as if in thought.

Meanwhile, I leapt to my feet and glared up at Jerbraz. "You said she wasn't gonna eat me!"

He shrugged. "I said I THOUGHT she might not eat you, not that she DEFINITELY wouldn't eat you. Hey, I'm only human, I can be wrong sometimes too, y'know!"

I hate these people. A lot.

"What's this about children getting eaten?"

The door, which was still ajar, opened wider to admit a pretty young woman carrying a stack of papers into the room, and she looked rather amused as she came in. Immediately, Jerbraz was in front of her, grinning like an idiot.

"J-Johmak! I didn't know you were here today!"

She snorted. "I'm here every day, same as you. Now answer my question."

"Huh?"

We'd lost him, that much was obvious. From the look on his face, it was fairly easy to deduce that he had trouble processing any thoughts while this Johmak woman was around, and I took it upon myself to inform her of the situation.

"She's gonna EAT me!" I screeched, pointing at Helryx dramatically and almost hitting Gali in the face. She punched me in the arm, making it go numb, and I scowled at her.

Johmak shoved Jerbraz out of her way and stepped closer. Now that I could actually see her up close, I had to admit that I could see why Jerbraz was virtually immobilized with her around. More than just pretty, Johmak was actually..._beautiful_, dare I say it. Dark hair hung in soft curls around her face, and her eyes were a light shade of green. And her figure...

Before I could begin ogling, Gali smacked me on the arm again and pointed at Helryx, who was looking less and less amused as the seconds ticked by.

"No, Johmak, I am not going to eat this idiot, no matter what he may tell you," she snapped over our heads to Johmak, who blinked.

"Then why...?"

"Because he's an idiot, that's why," Helryx snapped. "He takes after his father."

Johmak blinked again. "Oh, so you're Shruikan's son then? I thought I recognized you. He's got pictures of you and your mom and sister up all over his office."

The pretty lady knew who I was! Score!

"I've heard all about you, actually. Your father says you're quite the pain sometimes."

But of course it was mostly bad. Bah. I KNEW this was too good to be true.

"_Anyway,_" I said, turning back to Helryx, "if you're not gonna eat me, then what ARE you gonna do? Burn me at the stake? Cut out my heart and, like, sacrifice it to your satanic gods? Give me concrete sneakers and make me go swimmin' with the fishes? Hey, that last one's kinda cliche, don't do it."

Jerbraz snickered again. "I can do it for ya if you want, Mother."

"Stop calling me that!" Helryx snapped. "And you there, Redheaded Idiot. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire your father besides the fact that he has apparently 'sacrificed' you to me. Well? I'm listening."

"Umm..." That...was actually a REALLY good question. WAS there a good reason not to fire my dad? After all, he was a troublemaker and this was at least the second big transgression he'd made here.

"Well...he, uh, he needs the job?"

"Try again." Helryx deadpanned.

There was a scuffle behind me as Jerbraz tried to take the stack of papers from Johmak and she bent over in an attempt to shield them from him, smacking at him with her free hand.

("They're heavy, give 'em over!"

"I can handle one little stack of papers, Jerbraz!"

"Yeah, well, I can handle 'em BETTER, so gimme!")

"Well..." I hesitated, looking at Gali and Kopaka for help. They both shrugged at me. Apparently I was on my own with this one. Which was just PERFECT (not). I had almost no idea of what to say, beyond the cliche stuff of "he needs it" and "he's really friggin' sorry, OK?". And those weren't going to fly with Helryx in the least.

"Because he's a good accountant?"

Helryx nodded, and I saw that I had struck a good mark. "Sure, he's kinda goofy, but he tries really hard and does a good job at what he does. And yeah, he does stupid stuff like the thing with the Slip N' Slides and faking his own death, but that's just to liven things up. He's not a bad person, and if you give him another chance, there won't be anymore problems like that. I'm sure of it."

She was silent, and for a minute, I honestly thought I'd said the wrong thing. Jerbraz had succeeded in taking the stack of papers from Johmak, and was now holding them over her head, grinning while she stabbed a finger into his chest and hissed threats at him.

Then, Helryx did something I never thought she was capable of doing: she _smiled_. An honest-to-God smile!

"He IS odd, that is true."

"But that's just the way he is," I rushed in again. Had to make the most of this new development, after all. "He wouldn't be my dad if he weren't like that."

"He's also the one who got all these other morons to start calling me their mother," she said dryly, and I gulped. "And who got Slip N' Slides and toboggans banned from this building. And who forced me to have this floor professionally cleaned because of the ketchup stains all over the carpet."

"Don't forget the song!" Jerbraz yelled over, and she frowned. "Yes, and he ALSO taught them all that ridiculous 'Bohemian Rhapsody' nonsense."

Woman, I will have you know that that is a classic! That's it, you are most CERTAINLY a demon of some kind, or at least insane. Only crazy people don't like that song.

"But..." Helryx's tone had lightened a bit again. "He is ALSO the one who saved this company from bankruptcy five years ago by insisting that we invest in that one delivery service. Thanks to that, our stocks have gone through the roof."

"He also managed to root out that man who was stealing from our finances last month," Johmak put in, stomping on Jerbraz's foot as she attempted to get her papers back. No foreseeable development there, though; he had to be at least ten inches taller than she was, even in heels. By now she was practically pressed against him as she tried to - was she trying to climb on top of him to get those things back? Judging by the grin on Jerbraz's face, he didn't mind this in the least.

"If he hadn't," Johmak continued, standing on Jerbraz's feet and trying to what looked like lifting herself up by his shoulders, "we would have lost thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands by now. You saw those checks Metus was making out to himself; they all carried a substantial amount of money."

Helryx grunted.

"And besides," I ventured. Here I admit I was making a huge gamble, but I also had a hunch that I was correct. "You'd miss him if he was gone. He's nuts, but at least he livens things up, right?"

Was it just me, or did the corners of Helryx's mouth twitch?

I held my breath, feeling Gali take my hand. _Please say yes, please, please, please, PLEASE..._

"Alright." Helryx frowned as soon as she'd spoken, looking like she regretted it at the grin that broke out over my face. "He can keep his job here. But let him know that one more..._incident_ like this last one, and he's out. Got it?"

"Definitely!" I whooped and grabbed Gali into a hug, spinning her around. Kopaka leaned against the wall, smiling a bit as well.

We'd done it! And no one had died!

"AAAAAH!"

_THUMP!_

Maybe not.

Actually, it was still true. All that had caused the thump was Johmak almost managing to climb on top of Jerbraz to get her papers back, which caused him to lose his balance and fall over onto his back. Papers flew everywhere, and in the middle of it all was Jerbraz, hauling himself into a sitting position and laughing as Johmak desperately tried to disentangle herself from him at the same time.

"Let go of me!" she snapped, punching him in the chest. By now, though, he was laughing too hard to properly respond.

Fuming, Johmak got up and stomped out of the room, her face red with anger and embarrassment.

Helryx, Kopaka, Gali, and I all remained quiet as Jerbraz picked himself up off the floor, still cracking up. He abruptly stopped as he noticed Helryx looking at him and gave her a sheepish grin. "Uh, sorry?"

Helryx sighed. "Pick these up and have them back in order in twenty minutes. They're YOUR responsibility, not mine."

"Gotcha." He bent and began picking them up, flashing a smile at Gali when she shyly handed him a few that she had caught.

"And stop annoying Johmak so much." Helryx said. "At some point she's going to snap, and then where will you be?"

"Probably dead, but it'll be worth it," Jerbraz laughed. "She's cute when she's pissed."

"Try telling her that."

"Hm, I think I will! Thanks, Ma!"

"I mean it, Jerbraz."

"Bah." He snorted. "What's she gonna do? She's TINY." He looked over at me and held his hand out to shake. "I meant what I said before, kid, you've got guts. That'll take ya far in life, mark my words."

"...marked?" I replied, and he laughed again.

"Right-o. I'll have these back to ya in 'bout twenty minutes, Mother, so just hang tight!"

And he waltzed out with the mass of papers clutched in his arms, singing at the top of his lungs, "_She wants to touch me, whoa-oh, she wants to love me, whoa-oh, she'll never leave me, whoa-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh!_"

Helryx snorted, then turned to us. "If you've got nothing else to say, then get out. I don't have the time or patience to be your babysitter. And tell your father I expect him back here on Monday at eight o' clock sharp, ready to work."

"Will do!" I grinned, then before she decided to kill me (like I'm pretty sure she probably wanted to do, judging by the aggravated look on her face), I grabbed both Gali and Kopaka and darted out.

* * *

"_Hello?"_

"Dad!"

"_Tahu! You're alright! Uh, you are, aren't you? Mother Helryx didn't, like, eat you or anything?"_

"Would I be on the phone with you right now if she had?"

"_Good point. So, uh...how'd it go?"_

"You're in the clear. Just...you might wanna be careful, cuz she said she'll be riding your ass like a horse from now on to make sure you don't screw up again."

"Interesting analogy, Tahu, please never use it again. I did NOT need that mental image."

"You have a sick mind, Gali. Anyway, Dad...yeah, be careful. Can ya do it?"

"_Oh, you naysayers. Get it, NEIGH-sayers? Neigh, as in like a horse? Anyone? Anyone?"_

"Just...just be back here in five minutes to pick us up."

_Click._

"Tahu?"

"What?"

"...we never got to use the squirtgun your dad gave us. Gali still has it in her pocket."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"So you think we could...?"

"..."

"Heh, I like the way you think, Frostbite. OK, Gali, when we're all getting into my dad's car, I want you to point that squirtgun at him, and..."

* * *

**AN: Hm-mm. The Jerbraz/Johmak stuff was requested by **_**Zanda Waffle 07**_**, who apparently thinks that they are meant to be. And...don't tell anyone, but I kind of agree with him. They just seem to CLICK, I suppose.**

**But yeah, hope that was enjoyable for you. God knows I had a lot of fun writing it.**

**Review, please! **


	12. The Unwinding Cable Car

**This is more of a Tahu and Kopaka chapter, and it's also rather...uh, angsty, so if you don't like reading about depressing crap, then...yeah. Here we go.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

Later that year came a rather dark period in my life. Or, perhaps I should say, in Kopaka's life. But as he was my best friend, his dark periods more or less became mine as well - and I'm rambling, I realize that.

Anyway.

He and I were hanging out in his backyard, pulling weeds as per his chores (he had somehow roped me into helping him out) when he announced that he felt hot from all the exertion and needed a drink. Deciding that some cold soda was definitely in order, I followed him back into the house, where he opened up the fridge and handed me a Coke.

"Woo!" I cheered, then stopped when he glared at me. "What?"

"My mom's sick, idiot," he snapped. "How about not waking her up with all your yelling?"

"Sick?" I frowned. That was a first. Aruna was NEVER sick. Not once in the entire twelve years that I had known their family had Aruna ever been sick. Hell, she never even got a cold, for crying out loud. The woman was a perfect example of good health.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah. Or something like that."

It turned out that his mom apparently had been complaining about a strange nauseousness and a pain in her arm for a long time now, and had decided to take the day off and sleep. A good idea, I thought, though I was still a bit worried.

It was November, and soccer was over - we had taken third place in the finals, go us! - so perhaps it was natural that Aruna would come down with something. After all, she wasn't getting any younger over there. None of our parents were, but Aruna was always so lively and energetic that it was hard to picture her as even ever getting tired. First time for everything, though, I guess.

Kopaka's dad drove me home later once he got home from work, and I jokingly told him that if his wife stayed sick, he should take her to the hospital - wouldn't want them to be without that vibrant energy for too long, after all. When I said this, a slight shadow passed over Terios's face, which startled me, but then he was giving me his customary slight smile and bidding me goodnight as I stepped out of his car.

* * *

"Hey, Dad, I'm home."

"Welcome back, dear offspring! How went the weed-killing?"

"Weed-_picking_, and it was boring."

"That's generally the case with chores. Speaking of which, when are you gonna take out the trash?"

"I'll do it tomorrow. Hey, did you know that Aruna's sick?"

"Aruna? Sick? She never gets sick."

"I know, right? But, well, she's got a cold or something right now, apparently. It's got her in bed and everything."

"Hmm..." My dad frowned. "That's weird. But I suppose if it was serious, they would have told us, right?"

I smiled. "Yup."

He bade me goodnight as well, and I went upstairs to my room. I spent the rest of the night attempting to read a chapter in my history textbook, but eventually gave up and decided that I was tired enough to go to sleep.

The last thought before my eyes closed was, _Wonder if Aruna'll be better tomorrow._

* * *

For the first time in his school career, Kopaka was missing.

This in itself was even weirder than his mom being sick - Kopaka NEVER missed school, not even when he had a fever. He somehow had always managed to hide it from his parents and just went anyway, of course eventually getting caught and being sent back home. But the point remained that his attendance record was basically perfect.

Calling his cell phone during the break between my first and second period classes yielded no results either, though it suspiciously went straight to voicemail after the second ring. So he'd turned it off in mid-call. That meant he was avoiding me for some reason or another.

Alright, what had I done THIS time? Usually I could think of a reason for why he'd want to ignore me, but this time I drew a complete blank. He'd been perfectly fine with me the day before, and I hadn't seen or talked to him since.

Bringing this up with Gali and the rest yielded no other good theories, and I declared them useless as minions and shunned them all for a good three seconds before deciding to pester Kopaka about his absence later that night.

It honestly didn't occur to me that something might be seriously wrong, because there was no reason for such a thing. Life was going extremely well at the moment, for all of us. No bad boy- or girlfriends to put up with, very little drama, life was great!

Or rather, _my_ life was great. Kopaka's life, on the other hand, was about to take a very bad turn indeed.

* * *

1-564-978-3786

"_Amuse myself with pots of paint, produce the demons within us...pointless trials, but don't be late, 'cause someone's always pissed off...disrespect me 'cause I'm ugly? Don't give me your stupid pity-"_

***click***

"_If you don't know whose voicemail this is, then you have no business calling me. Telemarketers, hang up now, because I have no interest in your scams. If you DO know who I am, though, then leave a short message. I'll call you back if and when time allows. And if you're Tahu or Lewa, don't even THINK of another stupid prank call."_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First message..."_

***beep***

"_KOPAKA! Snowcone, where have you been? You kinda bailed on us today, man, what's up with that? And the lady in the office said no note'd been dropped off either...jerk, you're supposed to be the goody-two-shoes who never skips school! God, way to go and destroy your image there._

_...but seriously, did something happen? Your mom get you sick or something? That sucks, man. Anyway, call me back, cuz I'm, like, seriously startin' to worry over here, yeah?"_

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it-"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First message..."_

***beep***

"_...I...I...ahem. I'm sorry I seem to have worried you all so much, Tahu. And no, I'm not sick. Something just came up at home. Nothing to...hgk. 'Scuse me. Nothing to worry about, so just, uh...don't worry. And no, I won't be at school tomorrow either, but rest assured, I'm alive. But thanks for worrying anyway."_

* * *

I stared at my phone in disbelief. I'd somehow managed to miss the ringer going off, and his message honestly made me worry more than I care to admit. It had almost sounded like he was about to start crying for a second there. And that in itself was even more ridiculous than Aruna being sick or him missing school. I'd never seen Kopaka cry before, not even when some jackass in elementary school had shoved him over and caused him to skin his knee practically to the bone. Even then, he'd just sat there and winced and scowled while the school nurse dabbed disinfectant on it and bandaged it. Hell, Aruna had cried about it, but he hadn't...

_Hm, I wonder if this is about Aruna...maybe she's more sick than I thought..._

It was a possibility, but again, I doubted it. She'd been so lively and upbeat just the week before that I was unable to believe that she'd been taken seriously ill. It was far more likely that their stupid ear-piercing bird had died or something (though it seemed a huge stretch that such an event would cause Kopaka to stay home from school for a whole day).

I went back to school the next day, still worried, but managed to pass it off as nothing. I told Gali and the others about his message, told them I was a little worried, yeah, but it was probably just some family issue or something. Kopaka had said it himself - nothing to worry about.

Didn't stop me from doing so anyway, though.

I called him again during lunch, and once again got his answering machine. I left another message telling him to call me back and demanding answers, then went to my next class with a frown on my face.

* * *

1-564-498-6079

"_And I could tell you his favorite color's green, he loves to argue, born on the seventeenth...his sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes...and if you asked me if I loved him, I'd lie-"_

***click***

"_Heya, you've reached Gali's voicemail; sorry I can't take your call right now. But leave me a message and I'll call you back! Promise!"_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First new message..."_

***beep***

"_GALI! It's me, your favorite person ever, TAHU! Yeah, you can stop squealing now, cuz this is important. Listen, you live on the same street as the snowcone, right? Have you noticed anything...weird going on at their house or whatever? I'm startin' to worry about him over here, and he's not answering his phone, like, at all. So yeah, call or text me or whatever if you find anything out, yeah?"_

* * *

1-564-310-4050

"_Move! And show me what you can do, when you step into the circle and shake like we do - and move! When you just can't take it - and move! If you just feel like breakin' it-"_

***click***

"_Hey, you've reached Tahu, or, more accurately, my cell phone. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, doing something better than talking to you. Seriously. Anyway, leave me a message, and if I feel like it then I'll get back to you."_

***click***

"_You have one new message. First message..."_

***beep***

"_Hey, Favorite Person, it's me. Um, well, I haven't really noticed anything weird going on at their house, no...though I DID see his dad's car pulling into their driveway really late last night. Like, 11 PM late. But hey,we don't have school tomorrow, so why don't you come over here, and we can go visit him together? I'm starting to worry too. Anyway, see you tomorrow!"_

* * *

As per Gali's request, I woke up at exactly eight-thirty AM the next day and biked the three miles to her house. Like I expected, she had already been up for at least two hours by the time I got there, and she had me put my bike in her garage, then together we ran across the street to Kopaka's house.

At first, no one answered our knocks and insistent ringing of the doorbell. We continued on for about twenty minutes, then decided to come back later. But just as we were turning away, the door flew open and there stood Kopaka.

I stared at him. Dear God, the guy looked like hell. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn't slept in days, his face was paler than usual, and his hair practically stood on end, as if he'd been yanking on it or something. But the biggest change was in his expression. I'd honestly never seen such a miserable look on anyone's face before, much less his, and that is what really alerted me to the seriousness of the situation.

"Um...are you OK?" I ventured to ask.

He nodded, then rubbed at his eyes, mouth clenched firmly shut, which just made me even more concerned. Ordinarily he'd be snapping at me that yes of course he was alright, you moron, now go away and leave him alone. Not this...defeated posture and wiping at his eyes.

I took him by one arm, and Gali took the other, and we practically marched him back into his house and sat him down on the couch. Instead of telling us what was going on, he merely stared at the floor, a defeated look on his face.

"Kopaka," Gali said. He didn't so much as look at her. "Kopaka?"

"Hey, Frosty," I put in. That should have gotten his attention, but he just continued to stare at the floor, like we weren't even there. As we watched, he absently reached up with both hands and began to tug at his hair - alright, that was one theory proved. Before he could yank any more of it out (there were light blonde strands all over the floor in front of him), Gali reached out and yanked them into his lap.

A very uncomfortable silence reigned.

I was attempting to figure out what to say when Terios made an appearance, coming down the stairs and looking as defeated and exhausted as his son. He stared confusedly at us for a minute, then sighed and sat in between Gali and Kopaka on the couch. For a moment, no one said anything.

"Mr. Kyrie?" Gali asked quietly. He turned to look at her. "Did...did something happen?"

"Yeah," I said before a thought struck me. "Hey, where's..."

"My wife is in the hospital," Terios said before I could finish. "And I'm afraid that she will never leave."

Gali and I both sat there, shocked.

It was strange how methodically he said those words, but I could clearly see the tense set of his jaw and the way his eyes darkened with pain. Kopaka didn't react at all except for an almost imperceptible flinch.

"W-what happened?" Gali asked, almost fearfully.

This time, Terios seemed to almost crumple in on himself before answering her. "Leukemia," he said finally. "She has leukemia. My wife has leukemia." He kept repeating it, like saying it enough times would somehow make it OK.

Like hell it was OK. This was worse than anything I could have imagined. "Nothing can be done?" I asked quietly.

"Chemotherapy." Terios replied, still in that methodical, almost robotic tone. "But even that is unlikely to...unlikely to help anything."

"It's too far progressed." Kopaka said, surprising Gali and me. "Last stage."

We had learned a bit about the more malignant forms of cancer in ninth grade biology, and of course had learned about the four stages that some types of it went through. Catching it in stage one or two meant the victim was pretty much sure to survive. Stage three, about fifty to seventy-five percent. Stage four...well, it was rare that anyone survived past stage four. Stage four meant that it had spread too far throughout her body to be contained at this point.

"What about blood...o-or bone marrow?" Gali asked. "Wouldn't a transfusion help out?"

"No." Terios shook his head. "We'd need to find a match, and," he growled, "it's two thousand dollars just to put her name down for the procedure. Her type is rare, so it's highly unlikely that a match will be found."

"But couldn't-"

"It has to be a perfect match, Gali." he said. "They've already tested both me and Kopaka to see if we match, and even he doesn't come anywhere near to being what she'd need. Our best bet is chemotherapy, and even that..." His face crumpled slightly, and then it smoothed out again.

"I'm sorry that you two had to hear this, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you left."

Gali looked hurt for a minute, but she merely nodded. "OK." She went around Terios to give Kopaka a hug. He didn't even seem to notice that she was touching him. Didn't even tense up, which was his normal reaction to being touched in any way. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to him, then stood up.

I just stood there for a minute, staring at him, unsure of what to say. Was there anything I could say? None of it could change the fact that his mother was dying right in front of him and that the only way he might have been able to help her was actually a waste of time.

Finally, I reached out and patted him on the head, flattening his hair. He flinched and looked at me, and I almost wanted to yell when I saw his eyes. Again, in my whole life, I'd never seen someone look so utterly miserable and defeated before. It wasn't a pleasant realization, and the fact that it was my best friend doing it only made things worse.

We shut the front door behind us and walked back to Gali's house. Once up in her room, she sat down on her bed and I sat next to her. Then, before I knew it, she was throwing herself at me and crying harder than I'd ever seen her cry before, even worse than the day stupid Vezok dumped her. I held onto her as tightly as I could without hurting her, and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to admit it, but at that moment, I almost wished I were brave enough to cry too.

* * *

Aruna died four months later. As Terios had told us, she never did leave the hospital after being admitted that day in November, and eventually passed in her sleep. Though I wasn't there, I was woken up early one morning by my phone ringing, and when I answered it, a very thick-voiced Kopaka announced, _"My mom just died, and yeah, I just wanted to let you know"_ and hanging up, but not before his voice broke.

It was easily the single most awful day of my life thus far. I'm not ashamed to say that as I dashed downstairs immediately to demand that my parents drive us to the hospital, I was blinking back tears. Aruna had been part of my life as well. I had never exactly been close to her, but when someone who cares about you as if you're her other son just dies like that, it hits you hard.

To my annoyance, my parents refused to let me go join Kopaka at the hospital, telling me it was too early to go see him and that he and his father would want to be alone for a while. We would go visit them later tonight, my dad finally placated me with, and I stomped back upstairs to go call Gali and tell her the news.

I suppose you could say this event opened my eyes to just how short life can really be. It was a painful realization, and it was brought about by a painful situation, although I can't even begin to imagine what Terios and Kopaka must have been going through. Not surprisingly, Kopaka didn't go to school for a few days after that, but that Thursday, arrived in the courtyard with a determined look on his face and refusing to answer any questions about his wellbeing with anything more than, "I'm fine, go away."

Out of respect for him, no one in our group mentioned his mom beyond an "I'm sorry about what happened", and in return, he informed us that the funeral would be on Sunday at the local church. He didn't ask for anyone to come, but the look on his face said it all. We promised we'd be there, and we were (though I'd had to have my mom go out and find me a suitable outfit to wear).

* * *

The funeral wasn't as hard as I had expected. Instead of being an event for a bunch of people to just mill about and cry, speeches were said to recount various special moments of Aruna's life, including one said by my dad, who was uncharacteristically subdued. He did manage to crack a grin during his speech when he mentioned how she'd told him about her stupid bird piercing my ear with its beak, though.

As Aruna would have wanted, there were flowers absolutely everywhere. Even her casket was filled with them - they practically obscured her whole body except for her face, which was smiling peacefully. That, at least, was good. Aruna had been a happy woman, and it was nice to see her still smiling even in death (even if it did look creepily almost as if she were just sleeping).

I kept by Kopaka the entire time, glancing at him periodically. Towards the end of it, I saw a few tears slip out, but beyond that, he was practically a statue. His father wasn't, however. One thing I hope to never see again is a husband openly grieving like that for his wife, because it was awful. Terios cried harder than anyone at the funeral.

I honestly can't remember too much about that time period. Maybe I've blocked it out. God knows it was painful, and it wasn't even my own mom that it had happened to.

* * *

It took a while, but eventually that dead, hollow look began to slowly seep out of Kopaka's face, and he began to talk again. That was the most awful thing besides the look in his eyes, I think, his silence. While not a talkative guy to begin with, he had suddenly become mute, and it just about drove me mad, so his gradual return to normal was a relief. About three weeks after the funeral, I even managed to get him to crack a smile. Sure, it came about because someone had slammed open their locker just as I passed them, pretty much flinging the damn thing into my face and knocking me over, but the sight of that smile took most of my annoyance away.

* * *

A few weeks later, I went with him to the cemetery, which he visited at least once a week. This time, though, we didn't stop by the grocery store to pick up a bunch of flowers to give her. We just biked the ten miles to the cemetery, and once there, walked our bikes over to the small plot where she'd been buried.

I stood back while he stood over her headstone, saying nothing as usual. But this time, there was that same small smile on his face, and when he finally turned around again, he looked like he'd come to terms with something. Still not happy, but no longer in that perpetual haze of misery that he'd been in the past few weeks.

He was healing. My best friend was slowly but surely starting to come back.

* * *

1-564-978-3786

"_Amuse myself with pots of paint, produce the demons within us...pointless trials, but don't be late, 'cause someone's always pissed off...disrespect me 'cause I'm ugly? Don't give me your stupid pity-"_

***click***

"_If you don't know whose voicemail this is, then you have no business calling me. Telemarketers, hang up now, because I have no interest in your scams. If you DO know who I am, though, then leave a short message. I'll call you back if and when time allows. And if you're Tahu or Lewa, don't even THINK of another stupid prank call."_

***click***

"_You have two new messages. First message..."_

***beep***

"_Yo! You're still not pickin' up your phone, man, what's up with that? Ah, but yeah, you looked a lot better today than you've been lookin' for a while now. Anyway, just a reminder - my birthday's next week, and you and your dad had better be there for the party. I am not accepting no for an answer, Frosty the Snowcone, so yeah. No excuses. And hey, who knows, maybe you'll meet a nice chick while you're there. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Haha, but yeah, later, dude!"_

***beep***

"_Oh yeah, my mom says to tell you to remember that you and your dad are supposed to be coming over for dinner tomorrow. So remember, yeah?"_

* * *

**AN: Hm. Not too sure where this came from, exactly, but yeah. Not everything in life is all fun and games, and it kind of occurred to me that I was portraying it as such in here.**

**Yes...the next chapter is much more light-hearted, and centered again on Tahu and Gali. This was just highlighting a dark time in their lives, but it passes. All things do eventually.**

**As is becoming usual for me these days, this chapter was actually finished well over four months ago, but I just didn't post it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that it was completed literally a day or so before finding out that my uncle had died. It...didn't seem right to even finish fine-tuning this chapter after that, but I finally sat back down today and here it is. Sorry for the long delay, but yeah.**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	13. Landslide

**Well, you all know the drill. I'm late as usual. I was also going to procrastinate some more and be a productive member of society, all the while getting my homework done in a timely fashion, but after my latest reviewer threatened to lock me in a room with nothing but Justin Bieber CDs and **_**Twilight**_** movies, I obviously had to take action and get something fanfiction-related done.**

**Liek, srsly, you guys. Jay Biebs is really no worse than the Jonas Brothers, but **_**Twilight**_**? No friggin' way will I be locked in a room with that garbage unless I have a lighter and some gasoline with me. This means WAR!**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**Arya-Metru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Bahamut PURE**

Gali was in choir. And she was damn GOOD at singing as well.

It really wasn't anything special, but for some reason, I found it to be absolutely great and amazing that she sang good enough to get into our school's choir at the start of the fall term. And she was only in ninth grade, too. Our school had two choirs: Regular and Advanced. Gali was good enough to get into Advanced at the age of 14. She was the youngest person in there; everyone else was at least 16.

Which was the age I was at that point in time. Realizing just how old I was gave me a reason to contemplate something other than school, friends, and sports for once in my life. Already I was old enough to have a driver's license, which I DID have, thank you very much. And I'd been friends with everyone for at least nine years now. Had that much time really flown by?

Anyway, yeah, Gali was in choir. A fact that I prided for some reason beyond my own comprehension. I had gone with her to the auditions, cheered with her when she made it in, gotten the wind knocked out of me when she tackle-hugged me after the choir director himself called her to tell her she was too good to be in the Beginner class and he was going to put her in Advanced, gone to all her shows (and dragged Kopaka with me), and helped her learn the songs by going over them with her what felt like hundreds of times per week over the phone at night.

So when she informed me that she'd gotten the much-coveted solo in the last number they were going to perform in the school's mid-second-semester concert, I was nothing short of ecstatic. That was exactly what she had practicing so hard for, a chance at that solo. AKA, a chance to prove herself to the other girls in choir, who still looked down on her as just the stupid freshman who must have bribed the teacher into letting her in. Too bad Nidhiki Cloudrunner, the choir director and all-around music teacher, was a bit too high and mighty to accept bribes of any kind.

Of course, there was a huge ruckus when it got out that the freshman had gotten the part over all the juniors and seniors in the choir. Thankfully, Gali ignored all the jeers and rumors about bribes and OTHER things that she must have done to get Mr. Cloudrunner to give her the solo.

I yelled at the ones who accused her of bribes and punched the ones who accused her of the OTHER things. Not surprisingly, Kopaka, Pohatu, and even Onua were there helping me with that. Lewa too, when he wasn't busy making money and goofing around. One of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life was Lewa "accidentally" running over a girl's foot on his giant inflatable ball, while dropping one of the pitchers of water he was balancing at the same time over her head after she had rather nastily asked Gali what she had done to get the solo. And he STILL managed to get out of any punishment more harsh than a 45 minute detention.

If our school wasn't a perfect example of a corrupt society, I don't know WHAT was. But as Mata Nui explained to a fuming Teridax in a shouting match that the whole school heard (well, Teridax was the only one doing the shouting), the boy had merely been defending his friend's honor, and there was no lasting damage done. So the minimum punishment was given. Not surprisingly, however, inflatable balls and carrying more than two containers of liquid at one time were put down as forbidden from that day forth in the ever-growing list of school rules.

It was just too bad Vakama and the rest of them weren't there to celebrate with us, but they had all graduated already. Last I had heard, Vakama was working on getting a degree as a metal worker, something he had always been good at. Not only that, but he was planning to ask Nokama to marry him sometime in the near future. He'd gone a long way from the shy, insecure play leader I'd met all those years ago.

Anyway, I bought a ticket for Gali's concert, and at my parents' insistence, for them and Taryen as well. Although Gali wasn't the ONLY reason I was going (Kopaka and Onua were in orchestra, which would also be performing that night), she WAS the main reason. I hadn't missed a concert yet, and I wasn't about to.

It was customary for whoever got the solo of the last song to be performed to get to dedicate it to their family or whoever, but Gali wouldn't tell me or anyone else who she was planning on dedicating it to. This worried me a little bit; after all, what if she was going to dedicate it to Vezok or someone? She hadn't talked to Vezok, nor seen him, since their breakup, but the possibility was there.

Finally, May 9th arrived and we all bundled into my dad's van to go to the auditorium of the school, where all assemblies, concerts, etc. were held. For once in my life, I was dressed nice, on my mom's insistence. She had managed to stuff me into a red dress shirt, clean shoes, a black tie, and "nice" black pants that, while not tight, were nowhere near as baggy as what I usually wore.

I looked, dare I say it, respectable. Which was what she was aiming for and what was required, but all the same, it was WEIRD. Hell, I even made an attempt to tame my hair. Not that it worked, and I had to get my dad to untangle the comb from my hair before we left.

* * *

"Tahu, sit the hell down and stop fidgeting," Kopaka snapped at me as he made his way past me and towards the orchestra's section. "You're going to distract the musicians if you keep twitching like that."

"Piss off!" I snapped, turning red once again in embarrassment. Gods above, I hated being a redhead sometimes. The temperament and tendency to blush at the slightest provocation were little more than a curse. But really, it wasn't MY fault I was so nervous. First off, I looked like a moron. Second off, this was Gali's big debut, so to speak. And then there was the issue of the dedication...

It made me frown to realize just how much I worried about that stupid little detail. And what kind of song would the dedication be for? I swore, if it turned out to be a love song and she dedicated it to someone else, I'd have a fit. My dad's constant haranguing me about getting a girlfriend hadn't helped the situation any, either.

Kopaka stuck his tongue out at my words (making me blink at the uncharacteristic childishness) and humphed, turning his back on me and stalking off towards the piano that waited for him near the stage.

We managed to find seats relatively close to the stage (which was where the choir was situated; the orchestra's place lay right in front of it), and my mom spent the forty-five minutes before the concert actually started attempting to make my hair lie flat. Needless to say, her luck in this mission was rather lacking.

"You need a haircut."

"I'm not cutting my hair."

"Shruikan, tell your son he needs a haircut."

"Tahu, you need a haircut."

"Dad, stop selling me out to Mom!"

"Oh please, Tahu, you SO need to cut it; it's, like, getting too long-"

"Shut up, Taryen, no one asked you!"

"Moooooom, Tahu's being mean to me!"

Mom sighed aggravatedly, rubbing her temples. "Enough, both of you! Tahu, by the end of the week, I am taking you to get your hair cut, and that's final!"

I glared, grabbing my hair and holding it protectively. "No way!"

My hair was a constant source of controversy in the family. My dad's hair was dark violet and my mom's hair was black, as was Taryen's. My dad was convinced it was a genetic mutation, either that or it had something to do with the hot sauce he had been obsessed with consuming at around the time I was conceived. Not only that, but it was practically untamable. Mom was forever whining and trying to tame it, but nothing worked. Not even gel, which I despised using and tossed out at the first available opportunity. Finally she'd cracked and simply let me wear Vakama's old hat most of the time, but said hat had long since been outgrown.

Neither of my parents had considered my hair might be the result of an affair, thankfully. As it turned out, my grandfather was a redhead as well so my parents decided that that must be the source, and left it at that.

"But Tahu, think of how much nicer it'll look once it's not all over the place-" she started, and I let out a cry of horror and clapped my hands over my head in an attempt to protect myself.

"You're gonna BUZZ CUT me? You never said anything about making me BALD!"

"I'm not going to buzz cut you!" she snapped, as my dad snickered behind his hands. "I'm just going to cut it to a length where it doesn't get in your face and where it's SLIGHTLY easier to control!"

Before I could retort that maybe I LIKED having my hair in my face (although that was a complete lie), the lights in the auditorium switched off and a spotlight fixed onstage to illuminate Nidhiki Cloudrunner, the music director.

Nidhiki, it turned out, was yet another acquaintance of my dad's, this time from college, although I'd never met the man outside of Gali's auditions. He was a slightly serious-faced person, although Gali had informed me that he did crack the occasional joke during class. His hair was green and collar-length, and usually somewhat messy-looking as well. Apparently he had better things to do than worry about his hair. My mom could take a lesson from him. The thing that intrigued me most about him were his eyes, though. They were the shade that I wished my own were, bright, bloody red instead of the magenta-pink color that I had been cursed with. Lucky bastard.

Several times in my life I'd been teased about my eye color, although I usually brushed it off and maintained that chicks dug weird eyes (which they actually did, to my surprise and relief). Still, it didn't stop me from wishing they weren't such a girly color most of the time.

The concert was, for the most part, completely uneventful. I clapped and cheered when I was supposed to, although I was bored almost to tears half the time. Classical music wasn't exactly my thing, although some of the songs WERE catchy, I'll give them that.

The best thing to watch was Nidhiki, though. The man was absolutely in love with music, and he transformed when conducting. Suddenly, instead of being serious and uptight, he became content and just...at one with the music. It was a little awe-inspiring watching him. Although his back was turned to the audience, I could envision the wide smile on his face that Gali had told me he always wore while conducting.

He just...flowed with it. It was awesome.

Finally, it came to the final performance, which meant it was Gali's turn. Her solo.

I cheered probably harder than I'd ever cheered for anything else when she stepped off of the risers and up to the mic stand that Nidhiki had carried over for her. Then, patting her on the shoulder, the man walked right off the stage and into the left wing, out of sight.

Gali smiled out at the audience, and her eyes locked onto mine. How she knew where I was, I didn't know, as those lights were shining into her face and I knew that cut visibility quite a bit, but see me she did. Her smile grew wider. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" she said into the mic, her voice echoing through the auditorium. "My name is Gali Sorrentino, and I'm this night's soloist. Thank you very much for coming here tonight, we all hope you have enjoyed our show so far. This next song is SLIGHTLY different from what we've done before, being a well-known tune that I myself picked out and asked Mr. Cloudrunner to perform. As you may know, it's the tradition for the soloist to dedicate the last song to someone, and so I dedicate this to..."

She paused dramatically, and everyone laughed.

Everyone except me, that is. I was practically on the edge of my seat. Actually, not just practically, literally. My dad gave a snort and tugged me back down before I could get all the way out, then patted me on the head. I barely even noticed.

"...all of my friends, but especially my best friend in the world, Tahu Fuego!"

Holy mother of Mata Nui (no offense to my principal).

Me.

She'd dedicated her solo to ME. Not to anyone else, but ME.

(Well, technically she had dedicated it to all her friends and not JUST me, but still.)

HOLY CRAP!

With one more grin (Taryen reached over and shut my mouth for me, as I didn't even realize it was hanging open), Gali cleared her throat, then looked down at the orchestra.

The intro started, played by an acoustic guitar, and Gali began to sing, the other girls in the choir harmonizing softly behind her after a minute.

"_I took my love and I took it down  
I climbed a mountain and I turned around  
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills  
_'_Till the landslide brought me down_

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?  
Can the child within my heart rise above?  
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?  
Can I handle the seasons of my life?  
Mmm-mmm, I don't know...  
Mmm-mmm...  
Mmm-mmm..."

If her voice had sounded good over the phone, it was even better when she was going all-out and singing through a microphone, echoing all around me. Strangely, though I'd never been one for country, I found myself liking this song all of a sudden. I didn't even know who sang it, for crying out loud, but I loved it.

Two seats away from me on Taryen's other side, I heard my mom sniffle and wipe her eyes. She always was so sentimental...

...and my dad was crying too. God. Was I the only one with a backbone in this family? Even Taryen was looking a little weepy at this point. They were all _smiling_ for some reason, though. Wasn't the whole point of crying being sad? Why bother smiling when you cry? That defeats the whole purpose of it.

"_Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I  
Built my life around you  
But time makes you bolder  
Children get older  
I'm getting older, too  
Well..."_

The bridge started, and Gali rocked back onto the balls of her feet, her smile now a little sad. Moron. Who sings something to make themselves sad on purpose? Still, her voice was...

Well, it was beautiful. I had no other word for it. Really. It was funny how it had only just hit me right then how beautiful her voice really was. I mean, I had always thought it was good, but just now...

"_Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I  
Built my life around you  
But time makes you bolder  
Children get older I'm getting older too  
Well, I'm getting older too..."_

I can't really begin to describe how I felt, watching her rock back and forth on the soles of her feet and smile as she immersed herself in the music. All I can say is that it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"_So take this love and take it down  
Yeah, and if you climb a mountain and you turn around  
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills  
Well, the landslide brought it down  
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills,  
Well, maybe...  
Well, maybe...  
Well, maybe..._

_The landslide will bring you...down."_

She looked at me, and even though I know she couldn't see me because of the stagelights in her face, it sure as hell felt like she could. I sat there, practically unaware of the wild applause going on around me, and just _stared_ at her. By now, she had taken her gaze off of my general direction, and was turning her smile on Nidhiki, who had dashed out from the wings of the stage and grabbed her up into a hug, practically weeping at how beautiful her performance had been.

Or something like that. For a split second, my hackles rose and it took an incredible amount of self-restraint to keep from storming down there and forcing him to put her down, but somehow I managed to stay in my seat. Still completely dumbfounded, by the way. That hadn't changed. I was unable to take my eyes off of Gali.

Just when had she gotten so...so...?

Nidhiki finally set her down, wiped what looked suspiciously like a tear from one eye, and took the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, that was Gali Sorrentino, a freshman here at Metru High. Please, give her and the rest of the choir a round of applause!"

More applause. I was able to join in on this one, though I was about three seconds late. Yes, it took me three seconds to register that I was supposed to start clapping, shut up.

"And another one for the orchestra, if you don't mind!"

And even _more_ applause. Nidhiki's smile was on mega-watt status, and I heard my dad make some remark about a drug addict after a fix. Substituting music for drugs? Sure, we could live with that.

Nidhiki closed the night off with a few more words that I honestly don't remember. My attention was fixed wholly on Gali (I _did_ manage to spare a couple milliseconds to look over at Kopaka and Onua in the orchestra, however), and thus I didn't hear it when the audience was dismissed. In fact, I probably would have sat in that auditorium seat for another couple hours if my dad hadn't started frantically poking me in the face and telling my mom I had gone braindead from sensory overload.

I shook his concern off, along with slapping his hand away from my face, and began to push past them, forcing myself into the crowded aisle. They followed me, chattering happily about the performance, especially Gali's solo and how good it had been. "Her voice was simply heavenly!" Mom gushed, and through my daze, I agreed. Out loud, as it were, and that got me a few more concerned looks from my family.

I had hoped to be able to find her after the ceremony and...well, I don't really know what I wanted to do. It just seemed important that I see her again all of a sudden, and I was disappointed when instead I was greeted by Onua informing me that Gali had already been whisked away by her foster parents and gone home.

"Is something wrong?" he asked me a moment later. "You look kinda..."

"You look like an idiot," Kopaka put in, coming up behind us. "Not that that's a surprise, but this is worse than usual. What's up?"

I couldn't tell him. Hell, I didn't know myself. I think I said something about stage fright.

"Tahu," Onua said, putting one hand on my shoulder and looking up at me with concern written all over his face. "You were in the audience. Audience members aren't supposed to get stage fright."

"I was _imagining_ being up there on stage and getting stage fright!"

"Try separating fantasy from reality once in a while." Kopaka put in. "You'll find it works wonders with those annoying little delusions."

The words were calculated to annoy me, to get me to come out of whatever had caused me to go into this weird daze I was in, and it helped. I managed to glare at him, and he sighed and flicked me on the forehead. "There we go, he's back. Problem solved."

Onua laughed and turned the topic to something else. Again, I don't remember exactly what it was that we were talking about after that, just that I somehow managed to participate in the conversation without spacing out too badly again, and after a few minutes, I realized I had kept my family waiting long enough and bade Onua goodbye.

Kopaka walked with me back to my family, being that we were driving him home because his dad was working that night and hadn't been able to beg the time off from Helryx. He still shot me a few concerned glances, brows knitted, as we rode in the back of my dad's car with Taryen sandwiched between us and clinging to his arm as she slept, but otherwise he didn't give any indication that he was worried about me.

I was glad. It was enough that he cared enough to notice, and he knew me well enough to know that I wanted to figure this out by myself. Whatever "this" was, anyway.

* * *

We dropped Kopaka off at his house, though I had had to literally pry Taryen off of him so he could get out of the car (she has one hell of a grip, and no, she didn't wake up the entire time), and when we got back home, I darted right on up to my room after a hasty goodnight.

Once there, I ignored the urge to flop down on my bed and instead went to my computer and booted it up, going immediately to the iPhoto application. I had tons of pictures stored on the thing, but there was one in particular that I wanted to see right now. I had to test something.

The picture was a simple one, and one that the subject hadn't known I'd taken at first. She'd been in the middle of practicing for the concert, and I'd snapped the picture before she'd known what was going on. She'd then chased me all around the yard, trying to get the camera away from me so she could delete the photo, but I'd managed to rescue it and upload it here. Her mouth was in a wide smile as she sang, eyes bright and happy in the way they only got while she was singing. Her hair was unbound for once, whipping around her in bright blue waves as she moved. I could still remember how she'd flowed with the pre-recorded music of the song (one of the ones she'd sung with the choir), and she'd looked so...so _something_ that I'd yanked out the camera and taken it before I knew what I was doing.

It was the same here as it had been while I was watching her sing that song solo onstage.

Just when the hell had she gotten so pretty? And by whose authority?

Well, she'd always been pretty. I'd known that since I met her. But never before had it registered in me that she wasn't just good-looking, she was honest-to-God beautiful in her own right. And yes, at the current point in time she was only fourteen, which is, by rights, the age of awkwardness and pimples and puberty.

Not Gali. She was obviously taking puberty well, whereas I'd crashed through it with all the grace of a drunken rhinoceros. No blemishes to be seen, either. As for awkwardness, well...beyond complaining that her clothes no longer fit (and it was seriously just hitting me right now just _why_ that was), she was about as awkward as my mother. Which is to say, not at all.

With some effort, I quit iPhoto and shut my computer down again, then finally gave into instinct and flopped down on my bed, hearing the springs squeal in protest.

Have to ask Mom for a new mattress at some point...

I buried my face in my pillow, but eventually rose up, gasping for air when I realized I couldn't breathe like that.

"_...but time makes you bolder  
Children get older  
I'm getting older, too..."_

God damn it all! I could still hear her singing in my head, and no doubt the damned song was going to be on repeat in my brain for the next few eternities.

I let my head flop back down onto my pillow again, this time facing sideways so I could breathe.

Something had changed in me tonight. Something very big. I was noticing things I had never bothered noticing before, and I honestly couldn't say whether that was a bad thing or not.

One thing I was aware of as I slowly drifted into sleep, though: things were most definitely not going to be the same between Gali and me from now on.

* * *

**AN: That song is amazing in nearly all its forms. Except the Smashing Pumpkins version. They kind of destroyed it. But yeah, this was based on the Dixie Chicks' version, even though the original Stevie Nicks is obviously the best. Ohoho, yes.**

**So, um! You probably all either hate or love me now. Tahu finally kind of realized how he feels! Kind of. He's getting there, in any case, haha.**

**Review, please!**


	14. Tangled

**It's been over a year, and I am very deeply sorry. My muse for this fandom is all over the place. But I persevered and came out with a longer-than-usual chapter to try to make up for the wait! Thank you all for being patient and not murdering me!**

**Disclaimer: **_**Bionicle**_** doesn't belong to me, nor will it ever, I'm willing to bet. I DO own a couple characters in here though, such as Reha. Taryen belongs to **_**AryaMetru.**_

**Summary: It all started that day in second grade when the teacher made us do our first show and tell. And mine was totally awesome. Naturally, everyone started screaming when I opened the box. AU, TahuGali.**

**Firecracker  
By: Saya Moonshadow**

The next few days were utter crap.

Any and all attempts at talking to Gali went horribly. I just couldn't do it. I'd open my mouth to say something, _anything_, and nothing came out. Or worse, something _did_ come out, but it was something unbearably stupid.

Case in point, four days after the concert during lunch. I approached her, intending to congratulate her on her performance during the concert since I had been unable to say anything to her for the last few days and I knew she was _slightly_ miffed about that.

"Um, Tahu? Why are you just standing there? Is everything OK?"

I struggled with myself for a minute before blurting out, "You look like a mermaid, I guess I can be a part of your world someday."

Immediately, all noise in our general vicinity stopped.

Oh my God.

Where in the _hell_ had _THAT_ come from?

Gali stared at me, mouth open and cheeks slightly flushed. Was that a good sign? Was it a good thing that she was looking like I had just socked her in the gut? Oh my God. What if it wasn't? What if she hated me now? What if she slapped me across the face and said she never wanted to see me again?

WHY THE HELL WAS I THINKING THESE UNHOLY THOUGHTS?

"Is...is he sick?" I heard Pohatu whisper. I pretended not to hear. I could feel my cheeks burning, and without further ado, I fled the scene at top speed.

Eight minutes later, Kopaka found me cowering behind the science building. He sat down next to me, making a weird facial expression. It took me a minute to realize that he was trying desperately not to burst out laughing, and when I did, I scowled at him.

"OK," he said, "what on Earth was _that_ all about?"

I said nothing.

"I've heard better pickup lines out of a ten-year-old." He smirked at me. "You get points for creativity, but really, that one was horribly lame. Try again tomorrow."

"That wasn't a pickup line!" I cried, tugging at my hair indignantly. "I don't know where the hell it came from!"

He snorted. "Sure you don't."

"I don't!"

"Uh-huh...suuuuuure."

And then he left me sitting there, because he is a jerk and a horrible best friend, albeit one who lets me copy his notes after school every day. So I guess I forgive him for his snark. But only slightly.

That night, I received about a million texts from all my friends, and from some mere acquaintances too, all asking about my momentary fit of insanity earlier. Most were asking a few key questions: a) did I really ask Gali Sorrentino out, b) did this mean I was over my gay phase, or c) what kind of drugs was I on, and where did I get them.

It's nice to know my friends care about me so much.

(That was sarcasm, for those of you who have trouble with these things. Half the time, no one realizes I'm being sarcastic, not even my own dad. Seriously, I told him I hated him once, and he just about died. Remind me never to be sarcastic with my dad ever again.)

...

Had I seriously quoted _Disney_, of all things? Oh my God. I'd never be able to live this one down. I'd have to bow out of society in disgrace and hole myself up in a cave somewhere in the wilderness and never come out again until I was old and gray and had a long white beard down to my ankles, because hopefully by then no one would remember.

* * *

That same day after school, Pohatu was not helping.

Pohatu was not helping _at all._

"I can open your thiiiiiiiiiiiighs...rock your body like thuuu-uunder-"

"OH MY GOD, WOULD YOU STOP?"

This, surprisingly, did not come from me. No, it was _Reha_ who was yelling at him to stop butchering classic children's movies with his pervertedness. He rubbed at the spot where she'd smacked him and scoffed with mock offense.

"That's not what you were saying last-"

"Finish that sentence. _I dare you._"

"Um, no. I...I, uh, I think I'm good. Yeah."

Only a woman could make three monosyllable words sound so menacing. They really were terrifying creatures sometimes. I totally did not blame Pohatu for covering his nuts for a second.

"Seriously, though, Tahu," Pohatu went on, "that was pure gold. I don't think I've ever seen anyone's face get that red before, ever. You could've fried an egg on it."

"Well, gee, _thanks_," I snarled, feeling my cheeks begin to heat again from the reminder. "I'm _so_ glad I have you as a friend, Pohatu, you know that? Who the hell else will let me know when I'm being an idiot?"

"Besides Kopaka? Tons of people, dude, I'm not the only one-"

"IT WAS SARCASM!" I yelled.

"Oh yeah? Well, you know what? Your _face!_"

"_Your_ face!"

"_Your_ face is so ugly Godzilla took one look at it and died of laughter!"

"Well, _your_ face is so ugly, you could make the Alien scream for help!"

"You know what I have in common with a mirror? When we see your face, we both CRACK UP!"

"If you were to take pictures of your face and pass them out, you'd get arrested for passing out pictures of your ass!"

"ONE MORE WORD!" Reha roared, and we both cowered.

* * *

The gods took pity on me later that week in the form of having Nokama call me to help me out. She, as mentioned before, was Vakama's girlfriend, soon to be fiancée if everything went well (yes, over a year had passed since he had decided to marry her, and he still had yet to man up enough to pop the question. And people say that _I'm_ lame), and was the kind of person who was able to laugh at something stupid that you did and not make you feel like a total idiot.

In short, perfect therapist material. Which I desperately needed right then.

I told her what had happened, and I heard a little snort, but other than that there was no indication that I had amused her in any way.

"_If it makes you feel better,"_ she said, her voice breaking up over the phone's static; shitty service does that, _"I have that same habit of blurting out embarrassing things when I'm nervous. Once, I told Vakama that he had a very nice ass because he was mad at me over something and I was desperate to say anything at that point. He passed out."_

I snorted. Why did that not surprise me? "OK..." I said slowly. "So how do I get it to stop? I can't afford more...outbursts like that."

"_You need to get to the bottom of your problem first,"_ she said. _"My problem was that Vakama made me nervous and fluttery, and my mind went blank. It wasn't until I told him how I felt that it stopped."_

"Um...OK...but I still don't see how that helps me...?"

"_Who did you blurt that stuff out to?"_ Nokama asked patiently.

"Um, Gali, duh. Isn't that the reason you called in the first place?"

"_Yes. She's the one you've been having these...problems with, so now what's the logical solution?"_

My brain skidded to a halt. Images flew around it like some demented clown had just tried to juggle too many balls and ended up falling flat on his face, sending them everywhere - me holding Gali, me smiling at her, hugging her, _kissing_ her. And more. Of a very scandalous nature that I cannot repeat in front of children for fear of being set upon by the Political Correctness Police.

Honestly, how the hell else do they think we got here? The stork? Seriously.

"Y-you want me to tell her that I l-_like_ her?"

And no, my voice did not squeak. You must be hearing things.

"_In short, yes,"_ Nokama said, and I choked on my own oxygen. _"Oh, come on, Tahu, it's only blatantly obvious. You two have been skirting around each other for years now. She's liked you for the longest time."_

"She had a boyfriend before!"

"_And it doesn't strike you as convenient that she hasn't had a single boyfriend since then?"_

"I haven't had a single girlfriend since What's-Her-Bucket back in eighth grade!"

"_Which is also convenient. You dumped her over something she said about Gali, right?"_

Um, sort of...that was _one_ of the reasons, yes, but there were other factors...

I shook my head violently. "Why am I having this conversation with you?"

She laughed. _"It's awkward, isn't it? Don't worry, though - once you've gotten it off your chest, it'll all get easier. Just get it over with!"_

Um, how about no?

"I still don't like her that way."

"_Sure, whatever you say."_

Oh, now it was ON.

"So, has Vakama proposed yet?"

"_No, he hasn't- HEY, why are you asking that? Do you know something that I don't?"_ She sounded suspicious, and I resisted the urge to cackle - mission accomplished! Her attention was successfully distracted from me and my Foot-In-Mouth Syndrome!

Nokama and her gossip...she was unable to resist being in the know about absolutely _everything_ that went on. Hell, she was better informed on the local drama at my high school than I was, and she hadn't been a student here for at least three years!

"Oh, well, you know...he's had the ring for like ever now, so I was just wondering if he'd grown a pair yet and actually _asked_ you-"

"_Igottagobye!"_ she said, and hung up.

I flipped my cell phone closed and smirked at it, then laid back on my bed. That was mean of me, yes, but damn if I was going to continue _that_ conversation. And anyway, _someone_ had to force Vakama to make a move already. God knew that at this rate we'd all be old and on our deathbeds before he ever got around to it...

All of this sparked a lot of thought in my head, and I rolled over onto my stomach with a frown. (Jokes about my level of thought are unwelcome, by the way.)

Why _was_ I having these problems all of a sudden? I'd never had a problem talking to Gali before. She was one of my best friends. I wasn't _supposed_ to have problems talking to her. All of a sudden being unable to was not a pleasant experience, but I couldn't help it.

It was like...like...like something inside me had seized up every time I looked at her. My heart would start pounding the way it did during soccer practice, except even worse. This was a completely different type of exhilaration; one I honestly couldn't say I disliked. Didn't know if I actually _liked_ it either, though...

And then there were those _thoughts_. Those damn unholy thoughts! It was not a good sign when a guy starts mentally comparing a girl's eyes to the sun, not a good sign at all, I don't _care_ what all those sappy romantic movies say. It was not something I was comfortable doing, either, because I hadn't known I was even _capable_ of such a thing until I found myself doing it for the first time.

Lord, that was embarrassing.

I groaned and buried my face in my pillow. Sleep now. Sleep and forget about all this crap...

* * *

"_You're so pretty..." I murmured._

_She blushed, and I was struck by just how cute that made her. I had truly never noticed before just how amazing she was, had I? Well, I was changing that now._

"_I...I have something to say," she said, leaning towards me, and this simple action left me on the edge of my seat._

"_Oh?" I asked, smiling at her. Her blush deepened, and-_

BEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEE-

I bolted up in my bed, tangling magnificently with the sheets and sending my pillow flying. A moment of flailing to untangle myself later, and I was pounding the hell out of my alarm clock. Where was the damn hammer when I needed it?

Once the noise had died down, I rubbed my eyes. The damn thing had ruined my dream! My totally awesome and perfect dream!

Where I had told Gali she was pretty. And had flirted with her. Oh. _Oh._ Oh _shit_.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, tearing at my hair. This was even more serious than I had thought before! Not even my DREAMS were safe now! What the hell had that woman done to me to make me like this?

That was _it_. I'd have to get answers today. I'd kidnap her and force her under threat of...I dunno, death or a haircut or something to tell me the antidote to whatever the hell all of _this_ was. Desperate times call for desperate measures! And holy hell was I desperate.

Desperate enough to start dreaming like a romance novel, apparently.

Taryen poked her head in, looking pale and with bags under her eyes. "Hey, stupid, mind keepin' it down? Some people aren't feeling too good over here and need to sleep." She sniffled, and I wrinkled my nose at the sound of how stuffed up her nose was.

"What, you sick or something?" I asked. I love how she just barges in here with total disregard for the fact that I'm in boxers...then again, it's not like Taryen exactly _cares_. As she explained to me the first time I freaked out about her barging in, it's not like I had anything to look at anyway so of _course_ she didn't care. And neither would any other girls, she was so kind as to inform me.

Ladies and gentlemen: Taryen Fuego, bolstering my self-confidence for eleven years running now!

She sniffled again, rubbing at her nose and, I imagine, getting snot all over her hand in the process. Ewwww. "Yeah," she said tiredly. "Already puked this mornin', too."

"Don't you dare get me sick!" I warned, brandishing my pillow at her jokingly. She snorted and left without another word. I listened to her run into the wall outside her own room with a wince, then sighed as she grumbled to herself and managed to get back to bed without any other problems.

Poor kid. Being sick was up there with "disembowelment" and "listening to Kopaka bitch" on the Scale of Not Fun. That sounded like one hell of a cold, too. I'd have to stop by the store and get her something on my way home from school today.

I glanced at my alarm clock (which was miraculously not broken) and swore when I saw that I only had ten minutes in which to get ready. Moving quickly, I dressed, brushed my teeth, and flew down the stairs to where my mom was waiting to take me to school. I _really_ had to get my license soon...only about a hundred more miles of driver's training to go!

After yet another lecture on getting up as soon as my alarm clock went off and a warning that I wasn't going to get another if this one was smashed like all the previous were, Mom shoved a slice of toast into my mouth and dragged me to the car while I was busy choking on the slightly burned bread.

It wasn't until I was climbing out of the car at school that I remembered my dream and felt my face go hot with the memory. Answers. I needed answers. Answers. Right. Answers, which I would likely only get by extortion. The threat of a haircut ought to do nicely; Gali was very touchy about her hair.

This...this...this _brainwashing_ (for lack of a better word) was going to end _TODAY!_

And so, brimming with confidence, I strode (confidently) into the school building.

* * *

By fourth period, I had deflated considerably.

If I was alone with Gali, as my kidnapping plan detailed, I would be _alone_ with her. Nobody else would be around. Just me and her, one on one. What if she used the opportunity to continue the brainwashing? What then? If there were other people there then she'd have to be careful, but if it was just me and her, she wouldn't have to be subtle.

Was that what had been going on for all these years? Subtle brainwashing? That finally was strong enough that it took effect?

Clearly I was dealing with a ninja or something. This might be even more serious that I had previously thought...yeah, she was probably a ninja. I mean, she _had_ been adopted and all...so it stood to reason that she was probably a secretly-trained government-agent-ninja-woman-thing who was integrated into society at a young age to keep her identity unknown. She was probably just waiting for aliens to start invading to unleash the big guns. I bet there was a training facility in her basement.

One that taught how to brainwash unsuspecting dudes into dreaming like a romance novel. Among other ninja-ish things.

As expected, Kopaka was absolutely no help whatsoever. All he did when I told him my theories was tell me that I was in some serious denial if I was being _this_ deluded. And then he told me to man up and just admit that I was in love already.

"It's only obvious, moron," he said, gingerly taking the beaker I handed him. Chemistry. Bloody confusing subject, if you ask me, but you didn't so I'll continue. "You've had a thing for her since elementary. Were it anyone else, they would have realized it already."

You know, it's a wonder my self-esteem isn't in the negative thousands by now, with friends like this.

I sighed. "And I've already told you, I am _pretty freaking sure_ that I don't like her that way."

"Right," he snorted, much like Taryen had this morning but with a distinct lack of mucus dribbling out of his nose. Oh yeah, that reminded me, I needed to bring her something to cheer her up later... "You just think she's hot, and get jealous if she so much as talks to another guy, and make up bad pick-up lines on the spot for her. Right. Those are totally not the signs of a guy who's got it bad. My mistake."

I glared. "_I do not like her,_" I snapped. "And I will _prove_ it to you!"

He gave me a bored look. "Oh really?" he asked, filling the beaker with water and some other...chemical thing. I wasn't really paying attention to the assignment, in case you hadn't noticed. "How?"

I told him my plan. If anything, this only served to make him think I was even more of an idiot than before, but finally he sighed and told me to go ahead and do it if I was so desperate to make a fool of myself. Just don't go crying to him if I emerged from this encounter without my virginity intact.

At that, I sputtered and flailed, knocking over our beaker. It shattered on the floor, and the floor actually _sizzled_. Kopaka and I both jumped back as the teacher, some crazy guy named Mutran who looked and acted like he kept himself alive on a diet made up solely of caffeine, bellowed instructions for us to get towels from the cabinets and mop it up, but absolutely do _NOT_ let that acid get on our hands or else.

Holy crap. Acid. That I had just knocked over with my flailing.

Maybe I'd have to start paying more attention in class from now on...

But it was Kopaka's fault! All of it! He shouldn't have distracted me with making cracks about sex! God, it nearly gave me a heart attack! When the hell had he gotten so vulgar?

And I refuse to comment on any and all mental images that may have come up because of what he said, and which may or may not have been the cause of said flailing.

I ADMIT NOTHING. _NOTHING._

* * *

"_I don't know anymore; are the neighbors watchin' me?_" Pohatu sang into my ear for the fifth time. He did this every time I so much as glanced at Gali. This was officially the worst lunch period ever. "_I always feel like somebody's watchin' meeeeeeeee!_"

"Pohatu, shut UP!" I hissed angrily as Gali looked at us, looking concerned. He snickered, but I didn't relax until she had turned back to the book that was propped up in her lap.

I stared at her, biting my lip and remembering my plan. All of a sudden, my sandwich didn't seem so appetizing. I put it down, feeling queasy. Ugh. Not good.

"_When I come home at night, I bolt the door real tight-_"

"Pohatu."

"_People call me on the phone; I'm tryin' to avoid-_"

"Pohatu."

"_Well, can the people on TV see me? Can they, can they?_"

"Pohatu Cornell."

"_OR AM I JUST PARANOID?_"

Before I could open my mouth to start shouting, Reha set her sandwich down, reached over, and her balled fist hit him in the side of the head. He yowled and rubbed the spot, glaring at her.

"Woman, I'm filing for assault!"

"Shut up," she said, and went right on back to eating her sandwich. He grumbled but finally settled down, and, thankfully, did not start singing again.

"So, Tahu," Kopaka said, drawing my attention. He was smirking, which automatically set me on my guard. "Didn't you have something you wanted to do today? Concerning a certain someone? A certain _girl?_"

Pohatu cackled. Onua reached over and whacked him on the shoulder, but he was smirking too.

I have such _wonderful_ friends.

I willed my cheeks to stay their normal temperature and color and glared at Kopaka while simultaneously peeking at Gali out of the corner of my eye. She was looking depressed for some reason. I wonder...? No, I didn't! I was _not_ wondering why she was depressed, and I was most certainly _not_ wanting to somehow make her happy again. My stomach churned nervously, and I just barely managed to keep from grimacing.

"Er, um, yeah," I said. I steeled myself for a minute, then continued. "Gali, if you wouldn't mind-"

"Of course!" she said, whipping her head up and scaring the hell out of me with the insane cheerfulness of her tone. Taking a glance at her hands saw them white-knuckled from how tightly she was clenching them. I gulped. What the hell...? "I'll help you find this girl, Tahu. What's her name? What class is she in?"

"No, I think you're misunderstanding me," I said uncomfortably, still eying her hands warily. "I need to talk to-"

"So come on already!" She was already up and was walking away - _when had she gotten up?_ Ninja! You see? "Lunch is going to end in twenty minutes, so we need to hurry!"

Dear God, she was scaring me. And I was seriously going to be alone with this girl? I'd be lucky if I didn't die.

Did Kopaka have a copy of my will? He should, being that he was the main beneficiary and all, but...

"Gali!" I finally caught up with her outside of the building we had been eating lunch in, next to the ugly-as-sin bushes that the school gardeners seemed to think were so attractive, and after a split second of nervousness, managed to grab her shoulder. "Stop for a minute! The one I need to talk to is _you!_"

Her cheeks were red as she turned to face me, and I gulped. Pretty...

"A-about what?"

Did she just stutter? She had nothing to be nervous about! _I_ was the nervous one here!

"Um, well..."

"Yes?"

"You see..."

Oh God, how did I word this without sounding completely retarded?

"Mhm?"

"I, uh..."

"_Yes_, Tahu?" She sounded expectant. Her eyes were shining, and she looked way more excited than she had a right to be. All normal thought processes went straight out of my head. And I blame that for what happened next.

"I KNOW YOUR SECRET!"

She looked nonplussed. "Y-you do?" The blush came back, but brighter this time. Goddammit, she was freaking adorable when she did that. My stomach was still fluttering badly. "A-a-and what do you think?"

I took a deep breath. "I just want to say that I am _onto you._ You can't fool me any longer."

Another stomach churn, one that was bad enough that I grabbed at it, practically doubling over. Dear God, that didn't feel good...

"Tahu! Are you OK?" Gali bent over me, face still flushed but now looking more concerned than excited. Damn. But still cute-

_NO._ NO, TAHU, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO THINK LIKE THAT. OTHERWISE KOPAKA AND NOKAMA WILL BE RIGHT, AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT THEY ARE RIGHT. NOT AT ALL. NO WAY IN _HELL._

"Gyaaaah," I mumbled, clutching my stomach. Damn it, that friggin' _hurt!_ "I just wanted to say-"

And without further ado, I shoved her away from me, and threw up on the bushes.

Smooth, Tahu. Very smooth.

* * *

The nurse proclaimed that I had a bit of a high temperature, and made me lie down for my next class, sending Gali along with a note to my teacher to let him know where I was. Meanwhile, I lay there on the bed in the nurse's office and contemplated ritual suicide.

I had just thrown up on the bushes. The vomit had done nothing for their already overwhelming ugliness, but I hadn't even gotten another word in edgeways with Gali, who had quite literally dragged my sorry ass to the nurse's office, not even giving me a chance to explain that I wasn't really sick - just very, overwhelmingly nervous.

Oh, wonderful. First Taryen, and now me. I guess I felt so bad she threw up, I had to start throwing up too! Or I'm just super competitive.

I'm totally going to beat you, Taryen.

Oi. I really had to stop having conversations with imaginary people in my head. No wonder Kopaka called me weird, that jackass...

After fifty-five minutes, the nurse finally proclaimed that I could be on my merry (read: sorry) way, and I slouched out the door to make a quick stop by my locker. When I opened it, a folded-up slip of notebook paper fell out to land at my feet.

I bent to pick it up, wincing when my stomach fluttered again (damn you, stop that already!), and unfolded it. A smile crept across my face when I did, despite my best efforts to the contrary.

"_Feel better, OK? See you after school!"_

No signature necessary. I knew exactly who the note was from, and my mood was considerably better for the rest of the school day.

* * *

**King_of_Ice:** Where are you?

**PyroMANIAC721:** locker room

**King_of_Ice:** You don't have PE this year, though.

**PyroMANIAC721:** doin research, dude

**King_of_Ice:** ...

**PyroMANIAC721:** your silent. does this mean i win?

**King_of_Ice:** Which locker room?

**PyroMANIAC721:** sorry, that information is classified

**King_of_Ice:** ...does this research have anything to do with cup sizes?

**PyroMANIAC721:** ...no

**King_of_Ice:** Liar.

**PyroMANIAC721:** sticks and stones may break my bones

**King_of_Ice:** But whips and chains excite me

**PyroMANIAC721:** holy SHIT dude, wtf?

**King_of_Ice:** FYI, that was NOT me

**PyroMANIAC721:** sure it wasn't

**King_of_Ice:** It wasn't!

**PyroMANIAC721:** it's ok if you dig me, KP. i dig me too

**King_of_Ice:** THAT WAS _POHATU_. NOT ME. I DO NOT DO STUPID PUNS AND PICK-UP LINES.

**King_of_Ice:** AND DON'T CALL ME "KP".

**King_of_Ice:** It makes me feel like a wannabe rap artist.

**King_of_Ice:** Or Kim Possible. Which is even worse.

**PyroMANIAC721:** ...ice ice baby

**King_of_Ice:** I will stab you.

**PyroMANIAC721:** hey, i need to break a dollar bill. can you give me a...50 cent piece?

**King_of_Ice:** I hate you. You have been walled.

**PyroMANIAC721:** you can't wall me! i INVENTED the wall!

**King_of_Ice:** Un-wall. Actually Steve Carrell did. You just plagiarized it. Now get back to class before I tell Roodaka about your "research". Re-wall.

**PyroMANIAC721:** you are an enemy to the scientific community.

* * *

Contrary to what I had told Kopaka, I was _not_ watching girls changing in the locker room. The female gym teacher, Gorast, would have straight-up _castrated_ and then _murdered_ me had she caught me, and I liked my nuts. And also my state of being alive. And she scared me. Just slightly.

(Read: a lot.)

No, instead, I was watching the girls play volleyball for PE.

_...dear God, these girls suck at volleyball._

_Nice serve._

_Spike it! Spike it! Spike- oh, hell, you lost it. It was right in front of you!_

...where was I? Oh, right. Research. First, figure out why I was so obsessed, as Kopaka would put it, with Gali all of a sudden. She wasn't acting any differently than normal, so obviously the problem was with me. Clearly I had an issue that needed to get solved, like, _now._

And - hey, there was Anika. Oh. Oh God. Quick, find a place to hide! If she finds me, she'll straight-up castrate me and then murder me, just like Gorast!

After concealing myself behind the nearest bush (in a very uncomfortable position, due to my recent growth spurt and its relative small-ness), I continued to watch the girls play.

God, Anika sucked at volleyball. And man, had she gotten fat. I felt bad for kind of hating her now. She had seriously let herself go since our breakup.

Anyway...

None of these girls made me feel anything beyond a vague sense of "oh hey, nice ass" and "she has a pretty smile, I guess". Very depressing, let me tell you. Ordinarily I had no trouble appreciating girls - and now wasn't really any different, I suppose, except that now I was mentally comparing them to one girl in particular.

Yeah, that girl over there had a nice ass, but it was too big, unlike _hers_, which was just fine. And yeah, that one who had totally failed to spike the ball had a nice smile, but nowhere near as nice as Gali's.

Oh dear Lord. Evil thoughts, _begone!_

I decided to take off before these thoughts could continue. And also before I was caught (and castrated and murdered) by Gorast and/or Anika. That wouldn't have been pretty. In fact, it would have been a perfect end to a shitty day. Wake up late, choke on toast, spill acid on floor, have creepy songs sung in my ear by loony jock, puke on a rosebush in front of girl who made me feel weird, and then get murdered by rabid Physical Education teacher. Yeah, um, no. Not happening.

God, I couldn't wait to go home.

* * *

Taryen wasn't feeling any better by the time I got home later that day. In fact, her fever seemed to have worsened, a fact which caused me no small amount of worry. Taryen never did well when sick. In fact, we'd almost lost her when she was a baby to pneumonia. Damn cold weather. I always knew it was up to no good. Hopefully it would get a little warmer soon and she would get better.

Kopaka had come home with me, as his dad was working late that night, and to my surprise, the first thing he did was go up to see how Taryen was doing. I had no reason to be suspicious, despite my earlier hijinks about him somehow hypnotizing her, so I let him. My best friend and my little sister?

_Please._ As if that would ever happen. Kopaka was asexual at best; the day he developed an interest in girls would be the day Pohatu took up ballet dancing.

Still, she _was_ the only female besides Gali and Reha who he willingly interacted with. But that was because he looked at her as being his own little sister too. Had to be. He knew what I'd do if _anyone_ tried anything on Taryen.

And then there was the issue of age. Kopaka was a year and a half younger than me, and Taryen was three and a half years younger than that, making her only eleven. So yeah, there was no way any of that was going to happen.

Seriously.

My mom, as expected, had a fit when she was informed of my episode with Gali and the rosebush, and would have sent me straight to bed had it not been for my dad informing her that I couldn't very well go to bed with Kopaka still here. "It's not good for a man's image, Nina," he informed her when she protested. "Makes him look like a mama's boy."

Mom was less than amused.

Smooth, Dad...I see smoothness runs in the family.

After he was done annoying Taryen into throwing the eight aspirin bottles my dad had given her at him, Kopaka dragged me into my room to do homework together. As usual, it started out with him expecting me to do it by myself and ended with him explaining that no, chemistry is NOT the same as cooking no matter what anyone says, and yes, attempting to make any sense out of why anyone in the history textbook did anything they did was an exercise in futility but that I was still expected to learn it regardless.

And so I did, however grudgingly.

By the time Terios finally arrived to pick Kopaka up and take him home, it was past eleven and I was officially bushed. I went to bed with the determination to not have another romance novel dream as long as I lived.

* * *

**AN: For everyone who is facepalming, yes, Tahu is very much in denial and is futilely grasping at straws. Anything to keep from being forced to acknowledge the truth, and all that. He will be forced to do so soon, never fear (and by that, I mean either the next chapter or the one directly after it).**

**I personally have never gotten so nervous that I puked, but I **_**have**_** witnessed it happening to other people, specifically my best friend before her first job interview years ago. She almost missed the interview because of it. (And yet she still somehow got the job because some people just have all the luck, it seems.)**

**Reviews would be awesome, but are not strictly necessary!**


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